A Witch and her Phantom Son
by DmarcusBaus
Summary: An AU centered around the Bayonetta/Joker(Ren) mother and son fandom. Set years after Bayonetta 2. Cereza wishes to become a mother and makes a deal with Yaldabaoth to make her pregnant. How will she handle both being a badass Angel killing witch and a mother at the same time?
1. Chapter 1: A witch's child

Chapter 1: A Witch's Child

The story takes place a few years after Bayonetta 2.

Cereza is feeling rather lonely and bored of killing Angels, the thrill that sparked her euphoric excitement was depleting by the day. Cereza's other hobby was shopping for clothes with her life long childhood friend Jeanne. During their usual spree, Cereza couldn't help but stare at all the couples with their children running around outside store doors. Seeing children so happy and free made her think back during her time as a child herself, when she was considered a "black sheep" among the other Umbra Witches and imprisoned almost all her life, for being conceived by her parents from two different rival clans. Cereza sighs with a depressing facial expression

Jeanne notices and asks her friend

"You look troubled, Cereza. What's on your mind?" - Jeanne?

Cereza looks at her and responds

"Jeanne, be honest with me, do you ever feel like you want more in life other than just fighting off Angels and buying expensive new clothes?" - She asks

Jeanne looks confused and asks for clarification

"Define "what more in life."?" - She asks

Bayonetta points over to the laughing children running circles around their parents. Jeanne however, looks in disgust.

"Please tell me your thinking of something else and not what I'm thinking." - She pleaded

"Jeanne, I've always said children are obnoxious, especially crying babies. But just seeing them running happily wild and free, it makes me think back on how much I've missed as a child." -Cereza explains

"My parents and I never got the chance to live like a real family, but here I am still alive and still yearning for that chance to have that life that I once wanted. If I don't then, I'll feel like I'll be nothing more than just an old gun toting witch with no family of her own." - She explains further

"So...you are thinking...about that aren't you...?" - Jeanne asks

"Yes. Jeanne..." - Cereza lets out a big exhale

"...I want to have a baby." - She reveals

Jeanne's eyes widen with utter surprise and disbelief. She knew Bayonetta's stance on children and how she felt about them, the two of her most hated things in the world after all are cockroaches and crying babies, even worse if the two were somehow mixed together, but this was new to her. It seemed that her best friend had a sudden change of heart, at first she's a nonchalant, raunchy angel/demon hunting witch, but now, she wants to be a "maternal" nonchalant raunchy angel/demon hunting witch. Though Jeanne wasn't to keen on the thought of Cereza wanting to become a mother, she knew that the right thing to do was to support her best friend's decision. This was a big step, even for Cereza and she was going to need all the support she can get.

"Cereza, I can't ever imagine myself dedicating over half of my life to raising a child, but if you really feel like you are ready for the motherly lifestyle, then I'm with you all the way." - Jenne said giving a slight smirk

"Thank you, Jeanne." - Cereza thanked her friend

Both witches finish their usual shopping spree and end their day with a drinking night at The Gates of Hell, Rodin's bar. Bayonetta tells him about her wanting to become pregnant.

"Hmph, well I'll be damned. All these years I've watch you put your boots all up in angels' asses and now you here you come talkin' bout you wanna have a kid?! Bayonetta, ya ain't goin soft on me...are you?"

Bayonetta draws her gun at Rodin's forehead with her finger pressed slightly on the trigger

"Does this answer your question, darling?" - She asks with a smug smirk on her face

"Hmph, I guess not." - He replies

Bayonetta points the barrel a few inches away from his forehead and releases a flurry of bullets across the bar side, breaking at least 10 bottles of beer and hard liquor.

"'Now now, that stuff ain't come cheap you know." - Rodin says calmly

"I thought so. Now then, you both know I don't have the time in the world to waste on finding a man to make the baby with me. So I need to know how to conceive a child with my DNA alone." - She explains her plans

"Fine, you wanna be a bad bitch of a witch while being momma to a little ankle biter at the same time? Then go for it. I can tell ya how it works without all the love chemistry and what not, but it ain't gonna be pretty, it'll be dangerous...think you got what it takes, Bayonetta?" - Rodin's warns her

"Come now, Rodin, this is me you're talking to. I practically live for this!" - She reassures him with utmost confidence

"Aight, I gotchu. Listen carefully...ever heard of the creator god...Yaldabaoth? - Rodin asks

"Yaldabaoth?" - Cereza replies

"He's what's known as the creator god, the maker of man if you will. It holds power to create a life as well as illusionary matrixes. He can give you the baby no problem, but the price ain't cheap, baby. Matter of fact, simply saying "the price is expensive" would be a big ass understatement, if you know what I mean? I can't give you specific details on what he'd want, but if you try to make a deal with him or be willing to forge some sort of covenant with him, he might just do you the favor." - Rodin explains

"Cereza, are you sure about this? This sounds too good to be true. We've never heard of this "Yaldabaoth" whatsoever, so how do we know we can trust it'll give you a baby and won't try something shady?!" - Jeanne warns her friend

"You'll have to trust in me on this, Jeanne. I won't let anything bad happen, even if it does, I'm sure the both of us can handle whatever this "Creator God" intends to throw at us." - Bayonetta overwhelmed with confidence and determination to get pregnant

"Rodin, tell me where I can find Yaldabaoth." - She demands

"Purgatorio, you're already familiar with that reality. Crazy cat likes to think of it as hit big ass play pen. Likes to alter realities and bend time and space to his will without altering the human world." - He explains

"Alright, Jeanne,I'll do this alone for now. I'll contact you if need be." - Cereza tells her friend

"Don't do anything stupid, Cereza." - Jeanne tells her

"Have I ever, darling?" - She responds

Bayonetta leaves Rodin's bar and sets off to Paradiso alone.

Many hours after reaching Paradiso*

Bayonetta's quest to find Yaldabaoth proves to be rather time consuming, but the witch was all the more determined to find the so called "Yaldabaoth" and have it grant her the baby she wanted. After fighting waves upon waves of Angels and Demons to reach the top of the mountain, Bayonetta finds herself at the gate between the human world and Purgatorio. She jumps through the portal leading to the alternate reality. The sky was dark and the stars were on full display, they were moving around as if they've been shot across a pool table. Cereza notices a mighty huge bright figure towering over the skyscrapers and the entire terrain. Cereza makes her way over towards the giant deity in order to gain it's attention. It notices the witch standing before him.

"So you're Yaldabaoth I take it, the Creator God?" - Cereza asks

"Yes...I am the maker of man. Controller of time and reality itself. You don the clothing of an Umbra Witch, a once powerful, but now extinct clan of dark art wielders. I see you are not the only Witch still alive, for I sense another." - The creator god said

"Speak of your presence. What has enticed you to seek an audience with the god of creation" - the god demanded

"Now look, I don't want to waste any of your playtime, so it'll make this quick, love. I want to have a child of my own. One that carries only my DNA and inherits my genes. I know you have the power to do so." - Bayonetta wishes

"My power has allowed me to create many life, forging an infant is no different, but you request one of your own blood? Such a wish is a high risk even for someone of your caliber." - He tells her

"Define the phrase "high risk"." - She asks him to explain further

"Though you are a powerful witch and master of the dark arts, your strength and super natural abilities are destructive, if the child you conceive were to carry on your powers, they may prove to be too much for the it's body to handle, and the child's body may collapse." - Yaldabaoth explained

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. My child won't know what to do with his or her powers when until it's older. Now then, if we're done with the explanations, give me my child." - the witch demanded

"Very well, don't forget that once I grant you your wish, I expect something in return for my labor. Once I call upon to collect your payment I expect full cooperation and my compensation." - the god demanded

"Fine fine, we can sort out the rest of the contract later, now chop chop and make with my baby already. I'm not thinking of names for nothing you know." - She grew impatient

"Alright then, stand still." - Yaldabaoth instructed

Yaldabaoth lifts his arm towards her, which had brighter super bright that had even Cereza tightly shut her eyes trying not to become blind. Cereza would then wake up a few moments later feeling slightly heavier than her normal weight. As she slightly struggled to stand up, she looked at her stomach and saw that her wish was granted. She was officially pregnant.

9 months later into Cereza's pregnancy*

Cereza and Jeanne are once again on their usual shopping spree, but this time it wasn't for themselves, it for the baby, which was due anytime now. Cereza got her old friend and lackey Enzo to tag along with them to carry most of the baby's clothes and toys. Enzo wasn't having any of it and was throwing his usual fit topped with his thick New Yorker accent.

Bayonetta places the new bag of baby clothes onto the stack of other baby stuff that Enzo's struggling to carrying.

"This is some bullshit, ya know! It's bad enough you made into a damn hoarder during the fuckin' holidays, and now you turn me in a hoarder for a fuckin' baby?! And speakin' of babies, since when the hell do you give a shit about em' anyway?!" - Enzo complained

"You know, Enzo, I could ask you the same. How exactly do you suddenly go from a slob mortician to someone who's all about the wife and kids?" - Bayonetta asks

"Fugetabouut iiiit! I've been doing that shit for 20 years and consider myself a professional, but we undertakers have lives too, you know! What about you? You're just some witch going around messin' up angels and shit 24/7 and when that shits not happening, you making me yer damn errand boy! Hey! You even listenin' to me?!" - Enzo asks annoyingly as Jeanne comes from behind and drops another bag of baby clothes on his already heavy pile

"And that makes 10. Cereza, you simply must see the onesies I picked out." - Jeanne suggested

"Ugh! This shit neva gets old! How long will it before I become a fuckin' butler?!" - the fat undertaker whines

"Enough complaining, Enzo. All we need now is the baby's walker, carriage and finally order it's-aggghh!" - Cereza kneels on one knee suddenly feeling a piecing pain in her stomach and water running down her legs

The pain grows as she drops the baby clothes and clenches onto her stomach while kneeling.

"Cereza?! Cereza! What's wrong?!" - Jeanne rushes to her friend's aid noticing a small puddle of liquid beneath Cereza

"Ahhh...agghhhhh! Jeanne...my water broke...the baby...I thi-think it's coming!" - She painfully exclaims

"Oh no, now of all times?! Okay look, Rodin said when the time comes, go to him! He's knows how to deliver babies! Enzo, call Rodin and get him to open the portal now!" - Jeanne demanded

Enzo pulls out his phone

"Alright alright! Shit, this is why I can never have nice things. And since when the hell does Rodin deliver babies anyway." - Enzo complains while dialing Rodin's bar number

"Enzo...if I don't hear...Rodin's voice...on that damn phone...in the next few seconds..., YOU'LL BE GIVING BIRTH TO MY FUCKING FOOT!" - Bayonetta threateningly yells

Rodin out of nowhere pops up from his portal leading to The Gates of Hell. Seemingly sensing Cereza's pregnancy reaching it's climatic point.

"Seems like I came just at the nick of time. Aight then, let's get this delivery started." - Rodin preps himself

When the gang arrives at The Gates of Hell, they notice that the bar has been redesigned to look like a semi-hospital room. Completed with hospital bed, IV, Heart Beat Monitor, everything one could expect in a hospital room.

"Doctor Rodin, at your service. Now...let's get that baby outta there." - He prepares sporting a doctor's lab coat

"Rodin since when the hell are you a doctor?! I thought you was just some demonic bartender?!" - Enzo surprisingly asks

"Don't ever doubt my intelligence, fool. I got my MD and my Medical License." - Rodin points to his MD and License

"Keep breathing, Cereza!" - Jeanne instructed

"You...think I'm not?! AGGGGRH AAAAGGGGHHH!" - Cereza exclaims in between deep breathes

Minutes had passed and Cereza with all of her effort pushes out her soon to be-born child. Sweat-shaped bullets and tears fall down her face as she writhes in agonizing pain, but the baby was well almost out of her and the hardest part would be over.

"That's the head! Rodin, get the towel ready!" - Jeanne demanded!

"This is it, Cereza! Just one more big strong push! You can do this!" - Jeanne instructed

"Alright, Bayonetta. On three, give it one big push! Ready?!" - Rodin also instructs

"One...two...THREE!" - Jeanne and Rodin both count down

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" - Bayonetta with all her might pushes out her newborn baby

Rodin gazes Bayonetta's new child, the baby had short, but the same wild wavy hair as it's mother and it's eyes were grey like Bayonetta's but a bit darker. Rodin cuts the umbilical cord and carefully wraps the baby in the towel as it lightly flailed it's little arms and cried.

"Well, is the worse shit over yet or what?" - a hiding Enzo asked

"For now, yes. Now we gotta see if it's a boy or girl. Jeanne, you check and see." - Rodin

Jeanne gently uncovers part of the towel covering the baby's genitalia and reveals what's about to come.

"Cereza...it's...a boy!" - she reveals

"Let...me see, Jeanne." - a recovering Cereza says

"Take a look for yourself" - Jeanne suggests as she hands Cereza her crying child

"So beautiful...my handsome little one!" - Cereza says holding her new child

Her words began to calm down the boy and for a short moment, the room was silent. Jeanne breaks the silence and moves closer to her friend

"So...what about his name? I guess this means you can't name it after your mother I suppose." - her friend asks

"That's true...what shall your name be, little one? Your name must be something natural and unique, a name that shall never be forgotten for as long as I live...ah I know! - She finishes

"Ren...that's it. I like it. Ren." - She grants him smiling

Ren opens his eyes and looks at his mother

"Ren? Seriously?! You had like 9 months to come up with a name and YOU CAME UP WITH THAT SHI-" Enzo complains with Rodin following up with a powerful smack to his dome silencing him

"Seems like a fitting name to me. I'd go with it." - Rodin as he cracks his knuckles

"It's perfect for him, Cereza. Rodin, Enzo, lets leave these two for now, give her time to know her child more." - Jeanne adds as she grabs Enzo and walks out fo the room with him and Rodin

Cereza gazes into Ren's eyes and smiles, her eye begins to shed a tear symbolizing her happiness. She pulls him closer to her face and rubs her's nose with his.

"Look at you...my son, my baby boy, my first child. Seeing you for the first time, just sets my heart and soul in complete ease, my sweet Ren. You have the same eyes, hair, and charm as your dear old mummy." - Cereza praises Ren as she begins to fully cry

"I...I've never been the one...to be s...so fond of children. I always thought to myself that children were merely just a nuisance, but now that I have you, my sweet Ren...,I finally understand now what it feels like, I realize now how precious a child's life, a baby's life especially, truly is to a parent. Ren...I want to keep you in my life forever...I'll never let any harm come to you, mummy loves you so much." - She tearfully embraces him

Cereza kisses Ren on his cheek, and lays him right next to her. She places her palm on his cheek and clears her throat.

"Fly me to the moon

Let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like

On Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand

In other words, baby, kiss me

Fill my heart with song

and let me sing forever more

You are all I long for

All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true

In other words, I love youuuuuu."

Ren's eyes close and begins to sleep

"Sweet dreams, Ren. My dear sweet child." - She says reaching for another kiss on his cheek.

Cereza moves closer to her sleeping son, she rests his head on her bicep and wraps the rest of her arms around his body hugging him, securing him so he wouldn't accidentally roll off the bed. Cereza smiles with tears of joy and bliss still fall from the side of her eyes cuddling her son while he deeply slumbers. His stomach inflates and deflated as each breathe enter and exits his mouth. Cereza soon begins to drowse off herself and begins to fully fall asleep, still maintaining the grip on Ren. Jeanne standing in the door way that leads to the room she, Rodin, and Enzo walked away in earlier, smirks while carrying a long blanket and watches her life long companion and her newborn son nap together. She walks up to the two and covers them both with the blanket and walks away.

"Congratulations...,Cereza." - She says to herself.

Jeanne closes the door behind her.

End of Chapter 1

Thank you for reading my Bayonetta/Persona AU. I made this after seeing the Bayonetta/Joker fandom and wanted to put in my contribution to the fandom. I do plan on continuing the series for I do have more plot ideas. Next chapter will be more centered around Ren. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and hope you like and follow my new AU series. Bye! :)


	2. Chapter 2: For years, I needed you

Chapter 2: For years, I needed you

Yongen-Jaya, Tokyo

Tuesday, March 23rd 20XX

Its a quiet night in Tokyo, life going on as normal. People are walking and/or taking the trains home from their usual busy days at school or work. All seemed quite well that is, until a group of teens dressed in similar school uniforms just appeared from out of nowhere.

"The destination has been deleted."

"Hey, is everyone alright?!" – Leader of the Phantom Thieves Ren asked his team

"I'm alright. I feel as if I have landed on something soft and pleasant." –Yusuke described

He gets up and sees Ann Takamaki with a very disgusted look on her face, he was lying on her breasts.

"UGH! GET OFF, YOU JERK!" Ann demanded followed by a slap to Yusuke's cheek

"AHH!" – Yusuke exclaimed covering his red cheek

"I'm sorry, Takamaki-san! Please forgive me! It was an accident! If it's any consolation, they did smell very pleasantly like primroses!" – He tries to ease her current mood

"UGH!" – Ann tries to slap him again

"Don't make it worse on yourself, Inari!" – little Futaba Sakura said

"Seriously, Yusuke. You are one lucky bastard." – A jealous Ryuji Sakamato said

"Guys, calm down before we attract any unneeded attention!" – Makoto Niijima, being the only rational thinking Phantom Thief tries to de-escalate the situation

"Lady Ann, are you alright?! Kitagawa! A valued member of the Phantom Thieves you may be, but I won't allow such deviancy towards my Lady Ann to be looked past!" – the black cat Morgana defending Ann's honor

"It's alright, Mona. I'm fine." – Ann reassures

"Guys, come on. We're not suppose to draw attention to ourselves remember!" - Ren reminds the team

"Should we head back to LeBlanc?" - Haru Okumura suggested

"Good idea." - Ren agreed

The gang soon arrive at the Cafe and celebrate with coffee for another successful palace infiltration. Store owner, Sojiro Sakura left a note for Ren explaining his absence and that he'll return soon.

"Left to grab some stuff for the store tomorrow, should make it back later, be sure to clean up any dishes you use before you head to bed. Thanks."

"Excellent work today, Phantom Thieves! Another treasure successfully stolen! Now all that's left is the change of heart!" - Morgana congratulates them

"Hard to believe we accomplished our objective in one day is it not?" - Yusuke question

"I have to agree, usually we all return to the real world whenever Joker's not feeling up to the mission, but I've been noticing recently that he's be more and more energetic. As if he's doesn't lose stamina after a battle. I must say, Ren, it's quite impressive." - Haru compliments

"It's odd to me too, I don't know what's been going on with me, but...I just feel...this sudden burst of power...every time I'm about to fight, and even after, I find myself craving more..." - He explains

"Dude, you goin' sadist on us or something?" - Ryuji asks in concern

"Uh...No! No, of course not. Just haven't gotten over that rush yet." - Ren tells him

"But still...I cant shake this feeling inside me, I feel something growing, something strange...something powerful, but why can't I describe it?"* - He asks himself in his mind.

Ren daydreams hears a soft voice in his head

"My...dear...sweet chi-"

"Ren, are you feeling okay?!" - Makoto snaps him out of his short trance

"Yeah! Yeah I'm fine. Don't worry." - Ren responds

"I think all the past due fatigue is beginning to catch up to you. No mementos for you for a while." - Morgana told him

"I'll be fine...don't worry about me." - He replied

"No exceptions, Joker. Besides, shouldn't you be thinking about what you wanna do for your birthday tomorrow?" - the black cat asks

"I told you, I don't like to celebrate my birthday." - Ren says

"Come ooooon, dude! Don't be such a downer! We ain't got no school tomorrow, just took down another palace, we gotta celebrate something! How could you not wanna party on your own birthday?!" - Ryuji imposes

"It's just, I've never really celebrated my birthday...not sense..." - Ren stops abruptly

"Sense what?" - Makoto asks

"I'm sorry, it's...a long and boring story. Look if you guys really want me to have a birthday party, then sure. I'll do it." - Ren replies

"That's the spirit!" - Ann encourages

"Your birthdays are always special! You should always celebrate it!" - Futaba follows up

"I concur. Everyone deserves to feel special on the day of their birth. Considering whatever unpleasant feeling you've been experiencing, Ren, I'd think this is a great way to take your mind of it." - Yusuke suggests

"Kitagawa-kun's right. It only happens once every year, it's your day, Ren, so enjoy it to the fullest." - Haru encourages

"Thanks, guys. You're right. Let's do it here tomorrow afternoon." - Their leader feeling invigorated

"So it's settled, tomorrow we all meet up back here for extreme birthday partyin'!" - Ryuji feeling excited

"Yeah...sure." - Ren chuckles

"Welp, guess I better head out, promised my mom I'd help her with dinner tonight." - Ryuji says

"You're such a mama's boy, Ryuji!" - Morgana smugly taunts him

"Sh-shuddup!" - Ryuji responds annoyed

"Leave him alone, Mona." - Ren demands

"Alright alright. I'm getting tired anyway. Just come upstairs when you're finished." - Morgana says

"Seeya, dude!" - Ryuji taking his leave

Everyone else follows suit after Ryuji and leaves the cafe. Ren heads up to his attic and prepares himself for bed. Right before he's good and ready to slumber, Sojiro returns to the cafe with a store bought cake and places in the refrigerator. He heads up to tell Ren goodnight right before locking up LeBlanc.

"Hey, how you feeling, kid? You excited for your birthday tomorrow?" - He ask Ren

"Yeah...I guess so." - He lightly dreary replies

"Something the matter, son?" - He asks and sits next to him and Morgana

"Come on, cheer up, you only have one day that's all about you and you don't wanna spend it feeling down right?" - He comforts him

"It's not that I don't wanna celebrate my birthday it's just that...well..." - Ren pauses

"Well what? It's fine you tell me anything." - Sojiro tells him

"Well...you're gonna find this weird, but for a long time...I-I've been having these... weird visions about... this woman" - Ren tries to explain

"All I can really say about her is...she's really tall and beautiful. She called me something that I can't quite make out. Every time I try to remember, my mind starts to space out and becomes blurry. I don't know why this has been happening, but I can't help, but feel as if she and I are oddly connected." - he explains further

"Well...*clears throat* that's deep, kid." - He responds

"I honestly can't tell you much, kid, but I will say this, and this is my best guess. Is it possible that at some point at in your life that you and this "woman" were somehow related?" - Sojiro hypothesized

"I already have a mom and dad, so we can rule that out. Maybe she's an aunt or something. That's my best assumption" - Ren guessed

"Who knows, kid. If I were you, I wouldn't be dwelling on this right before my birthday." - Sojiro said

"Just get some rest, and try not to think to much about it tomorrow. It's your day after all." - He advised him

"Alright, goodnight, Sojiro." - Ren expressed

"Goodnight, kid, and remember what I said" - Sojiro replied back

All the lights are out and the store is locked up and closed for the night. Sojiro heads back to his home. About a few minutes later, Ren and Morgana are fast asleep, Ren however, begins tossing and turning. His breathing begins to intensify. It appears he's having some sort of dream, and whatever he's dreaming about must be something intense.

Inside Ren's dream*

Ren is swimming in a lake alone, surrounded by trees and branches sticking out of the water and in broad daylight with no one else around. He's enjoying himself and feeling relaxed, but suddenly, he begins to get pulled underwater, as if a strange, yet powerful invisible force is causing all this. He struggles and struggles to free himself, but to no avail. He feels light-headed and feels as if he's about to pass out from drowning, but surprisingly enough...he doesn't.

Strangely, he's still alive, he regains his breathing and heart rate returns to normal as it did when he was above the surface.

"What the hell?! How am I breathing underwater?!" - He asked himself

His eye sight becomes clearer and clearer. He turns his head and looks around him to see what was pulling him down in the first place, but doesn't find anything. That is until he notices a red light glowing below him.

He is pulled further and further into the glow until he sees a coffin lying on the sea floor.

"What the...? Is that...a coffin? What's a coffin doing at the bottom of a lake?" - He acts surprised

Ren is pulled right in front of the coffin and as soon as he's within touching distance, the coffin begins to emit a bright red aura.

He placed his hand on the coffin and the top begins to move itself open. What's revealed next shocks Ren to the core.

"Oh my god..." - He's says to himself in his head

His eyes widen as they take a gander at what was contained inside the coffin.

"A woman?!" - He says shockingly

The women had very long black hair that covered about 50% of her nude body. Her hair style was similar to that of a welly constructed beehive. She wore a mask that resembled a butterfly and lastly, she had a watch that was attached to a necklace around her neck.

Ren couldn't help but gaze at the beautiful woman, he wanted to resurface, but just by looking at the unconscious woman's body, he felt paralyzed and hypnotized by her.

"What's wrong with me?! I know I want to go back, but...I can't swat away this feeling! I can't stop looking at her! As if I know her from somewhere! What's happening to me?! God dammit!" - He struggles to find an explanation

He puts his hands on his head, trying to clear himself from whatever abnormality is developing within him. That is...until suddenly, the woman's eyes begin to open. Her eyes glow bright pink and Ren, unbelievably startled, tries to move away, but the invisible force pulls him closer to her. The woman then begins to reach with her arms and hands toward the struggling boy as he tries with every fiber of his resolve to move away from her, but it was all for naught. The woman places her hands on both sides of his head. She moves in closer to his face with her's.

"What is she doing? Is she about to kill me?! Am I gonna die here?! How is she still alive from spending all that time underwater?!" - Ren rapidly asks himself

The woman moves in closer and turns Ren's head slightly to the left and he's tightly shuts his eyes, not prepared to glance at what he thinks is going to be his killer...but he is wrong.

He feels something soft and sweet pressing against his right cheek. He slowly opens his eyes once more to see that the woman, who he thought was going to end his life, was actually giving him a kiss.

"Wh-what...what did she...just do?" - Ren confused

The woman ends her graceful kiss and stares at the shocked boy for a bit and smiles ever so delightfully. She moves her lips and speaks the words.

"My Dear...Sweet Child." - she said softly

The invisible force suddenly pulls Ren back up and just before he is about to reach to the top, a bright light blinds him.

Ren's dream ends*

March 24th 20XX - Morning

"Gaaahaahh!" - Ren springs up flinging Morgana off of his chest and off the bed

"MEEOOOW!" - the cat shouts

"What the hell, man?! What's wrong with you?!" - Morgana yells at him

"I'm sorry, I just...had a dream." - Ren apologizes

"Bad dream, huh?" - Morgana said climbing back into the bed

"Well..."bad" is a bit of an exaggeration." - Ren clarifies

"Soooo...what, you were just startled or something?" - the cat asks

"I guess..." - he responds

Morgana looks confused by Ren's answer, but quickly remembers it's his birthday today

"Well anyway, you should get dressed, It is your birthday, so no doubt you'll be busy all day partying. Also let me be the first one to congratulate you on making it through another year of life and not dying." - he said smugly

"Thanks...I guess." - Ren oddly replied

Ren puts on his clothes and heads downstairs to see Sojiro cooking up his usual curry for him with a special blended coffee on the side. He takes a seat

"Say, kid, I heard you scream from upstairs. Sounds like you had a nightmare." - He pointed out

"I guess you could say so." - Ren responded

"Don't tell, was it about that mystery woman you told me about yesterday?" - Sojiro asked

"Yeah...it was so strange. She kissed me and called me her "dear sweet child" why would she call me that?" - Ren wondered

"Who knows, kid. It's best not to think too much about it during your birthday." - Sojiro advised

"Here. Consider it your birthday breakfast." - Sojiro said placing the plate of curry and cup of coffee in front of him

"I added my secret blend in the coffee mix, I only use it for special occasions. Figured since it's your birthday and you've been here for almost a year, you deserve to try it at least once." - he offered

"Thanks." - Ren smiled

Ren takes a sip of the special blended coffee and gets a rush of satisfaction from the deliciousness of the drink.

"Woah...it's amazing!" - he complimented

"Well, what do you think? Think you can figure out the ingredients?" - Sojiro asked with a smirk

"No I can't, what did you add?" - a curious Ren asked

"It's really just Dark Bean mixed with French Roast. I added 3 teaspoons of sugar and cream." - Sojiro revealed

"I call this a Sakura Sacred family recipe. It's a family recipe first made by my parents before they both passed away. My father told me to only make this for under one of two certain conditions: special occasions or serving it to the love of your life. That's why I don't have this on the menu." - He explained

"That's an interesting story. You're honoring their memory with this blend." - Ren

"Yeah, this recipe is a great reminder of their memory." - Sojiro mourned

"Well anyway, enough about that. So, what do you have planned today?" - He asked Ren

"I think we're gonna go see a movie first, go eat sushi right after, and head back here to end it off." - Ren told him

"Sounds like the usual birthday celebration, huh?" - Sojiro asked

"You could say that." - Ren responded

"Anyway, I hope you enjoy your birthday, kid." - Sojiro wished him

Ren finishes his curry and coffee a few minutes later. He gets a message from Ryuji saying they're already on their way over to hang out and celebrate.

1 hour later in front of the movie theater in Shibuya Central Street

"Alright! Movie time! So, Ren, whatcha wanna see?!" - an excited Ryuji asked Ren

"What about this one, says it about a Woman who crosses over to another country to find the man she falls in love with over a video chat." - Ren

"Ah, duuude, seriously?! That's an effin' chick flick! You should look for something with more action." - Ryuji suggested

"It's his birthday, Ryuji, let him pick what he wants. I think that's a good choice." - Ann encourages

"Pfft! Of course you would say that. You're practically obsessed with these types of movies!" - the blond boy insinuated

"Sh-shut up!" - Ann flustered

"What about this? Says it's a comedy about a two friends in the U.S. who owe a drug lord money and have to come up with a way to earn it." - Ren suggested

"Doesn't sound bad." - Makoto said

"I suppose it sounds adequate. Let us see it." - Yusuke urged

"Alright then, let's go." - Ren said walking to get his ticket

The movie lasted for about 2 hours, the gang leaves the theater and begin head down to Ginza to grab some sushi from the Sushi shop and soon began their way back to Yongen-Jaya to finish off Ren's birthday celebration.

Evening

"Ahh, you're back, and you guys brought back sushi I see." - Sojiro said to the gang walking into the store

"You bet!" - a hungry excited Ryuji replied

"So how was the movie?" - The boss asked

"It was pretty good. Ryuji and Futaba were like kids, they couldn't stop laughing. Some people were evening staring." - Ren explained

"Really?" - Sojiro chuckled

"It was rather embarrassing, to be honest." - Yusuke adds

"How embarrassing, Ryuji!" - Morgana said in agreement with Yusuke

"Wha-Shaddup ya damn cat!" - Ryuji yells feeling embarrassed

"It was too funny! I almost spurted out my popcorn." - Futaba expresses

"I'd say it was rather adorable seeing those two enjoy themselves." - Haru sympathizes

"At least someone understands." - Ryuji feeling relieved

"Why don't we just go ahead and eat up?! We still got a birthday party to finish!" - a happy Ann proposed

"Of course, lets." - Makoto added

"Alright! I'm effin' starving!" - Ryuji says as he prepares to dig in

The Phantom Thieves are 1 hour into their sushi feast and enjoy their every last bite. Ren couldn't help but smile enjoying his birthday with all his friends. Being with his friends and spending an entire day with the people he just met last year. Even after everything he's been through, being arrested and falsely accused of assaulting a politician, being expelled from his old high school, having to leave his old home and making a new start, life's been hard on the frizzy haired boy. However, seeing as he's come a long way as both a person and Phantom Thief, he's seems very happy with how things are turning out.

As soon as everyone finishes eating, Sojiro grabs the cake he bought last night out of the refrigerator.

"Say, kid. Can't have a birthday without cake right?" - Sojiro asked placing the cake on the table in front of everyone

"You bought a cake?!" - Ren asked

"Of course, who wouldn't have cake on their birthday?" - Sojiro replied

"Woooah this looks greeeeat!" - Ann said excitingly

"Oh-ho man! I'm gonna enjoy this." - An optimistic Ryuji says

"It looks very delicious." - Haru complimented

"Now now, everyone, gotta light the candle first." - Sojiro eases everyone's excitement

Sojiro lights the candle sticks it on top of the cake.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you." - Everyone sings to Ren

Right when everyone is about to finish the birthday song, Ren suddenly begins to have another vision, he sees himself as a baby sitting in a high chair. He sees two tall women standing before him. One woman who looks similar to him, the other woman with thigh length white hair and wearing a tight red biker outfit, a well dressed man with wavy brown hair wearing a hat and a scarf, and a giant bald muscular black man wearing shades standing right next to him.

Inside Ren's vision*

"Happy birthday, dear Ren, happy birthday to you." - the two women ended the song

"Blow out your candles, sweetie." - The tall similar looking woman told baby Ren

"What the hell just happened? One second I'm at LeBlanc with everyone else, then next thing I know I'm here. Where the heck am I?! Who are these people?! And that woman, why does she look like that woman from the bottom of that lake from my dream?!" - Confused baby Ren asked himself

"Here, Ren, like this." - The tall red biker woman instructed blowing into her hand

Baby Ren, having no idea what to do, decides to blow out the candles and everyone around him claps and cheers as he successfully blows out the flame. Suddenly, Baby Ren is pulled out of his vision and returns back to his current teenage body.

End of Ren's vision*

When Ren returned to his current body, the candle was already blown out and the gang was already clapping and cheering for him. It's as if what happened in his vision was also happening at the same time in reality.

"Hey, dude, you alright?" - Ryuji asked a confused looking Ren

"Uh...Yeah. I'm fine. I'm just very happy and satisfied with how today turned out. Thank you everyone for making this day so special." - Ren thanks his friends

"Aww no problem, Ren" - Ann feeling appreciated

"Well what're you waiting for, go ahead and cut that sucker up so we can devour it!" - an impatient Futaba said

"Alright alright." - Ren responded

Ren grabs the knife from Sojiro and right as soon as he begins to start cutting, a loud impact is heard from right outside the shop. The gang is started and they all head outside to investigate the crash.

"What was that?!" - Yusuke yells

"A meteor?!" - Haru wondered

"Aliens?!" - Futaba added with a frightened look on her face

"I don't know what the hell is going on, but I'm freaked the absolute F out, man!" - Ryuji exaggerates

"Guys, just calm down, doesn't seem like anybody's hurt so that's a start." - Makoto trying to defuse the excessive hysteria coming from her teammates

"My question is, what WAS it that crashed?!" - Ann asked

Ren begins to step closer to the crash site, but suddenly stops in his tracks after seeing a tall figure emerge from the rubble. It was a person. A woman. With short black hair and grey eyes, similar to his. The woman notices Ren and his friends and begins to walk over to them

"Is it, really you? Ren?" - the tall woman asked him

"What the hell? How does she know you?!" What's going on?!" - Ryuji asked feeling shocked and confused

"Okay, I'm officially freaked out now." - Makoto added

"Me too!" - Morgana

"Do you not remember me, yet?" - the woman asked

"How do you know my name?! Who are you?!" - Ren asked the woman

The woman quickly grabbed and hugged the black frizzy haired boy smothering him into her chest and smiled.

"Little one, how could I not know you? How could I possibly forget...the name that I gave you...my son."

"SON!" - The Phantom Thieves loudly said simultaneously

"Wha-what did she just say?!" - Morgana questioned

"My dear sweet child! Mummy has missed you so much." - the tall woman expressed her feelings

"Huh?! "Dear sweet child" I heard that before."* - Ren said to himself in his mind

Ren quickly remembers those words from his dream and soon begins to remember most of his past and his relation to the woman hugging him.

"My dear sweet child"*

"So...then that dream I had last night, it wasn't just a dream, it was also a vision like my other ones! It all makes sense now! I remember it all! This woman...REALLY IS MY MOTHER!"* - Ren says trying to process everything that's happening right now

"Sheees...soooo...beautiful." - Morgana blushed

"Is there a better place to talk about this?" - His mother asked

"S-sure. This is gonna sound awkward, but I actually live in an attic, in a coffee cafe." - Ren told her

"Oh how marvelous! I could certainly go for an espresso right about now. Shall we be off then, dear son?" - Ren's mother says grabbing his hand

The two begin walking back to the shop

"What...the hell just happened?" - Ryuji said confusingly

"I believe we have just met the woman who gave birth to our group's leader." - Yusuke points out

"This has been...quite the eventful birthday celebration." - Haru said

"You can say that again." - Makoto added

Ren, his mother, and the rest of the Phantom Thieves make it back to LeBlanc

"Oh sorry, miss. I'm closed for tonight." - Sojiro told Ren's mother as she walked in to the shop first

"Um...Sojiro. This is gonna sound surprisingly awkward to you, but...this is my mother." - Ren revealed

"WHA-WHAT?! Okay how much coffee have you had today?!" - Sojiro said shockingly

"He's not lying, love. I am his mother." - Ren's mom says pulling out a small photo album containing Ren's baby pictures

"This is Ren and I when he was first born." - She showed boss the picture

"Well, it certainly does look like Ren." - Sojiro said

"So anyway, you've got a name, mam?" - Sojiro asked

"Call me Cereza." - She told him

"That's quote the exotic name." - He said

"Aww he looks so cuuute!" - Futaba complimented looking at Ren's baby picture

Ren starts to feel embarrassed

"Would anyone like to see more, I have plenty?!" - Cereza asked

"Mom, please don't!" - Ren trying take the photo album away from Futaba

"Oh come now, little one. Let them see." - His mother suggested

"Yeah dude. Come oooon, let us see!" - Ryuji excitingly said

"I would like to see as well." - Haru joined in

"Oh man." - Ren facepalmed himself

"Here's Ren sleeping on a giant teddy bear I got him from a fair." - Cereza showed them

"Awwww, that's so adorable." - Makoto admired

"He looks so big." - Ann adds

"Here's him during Christmas time. This is his uncle Rodin as Santa. Ren always loved it when his uncle pretended to be Santa, didn't you dear?" - She asked her son

"I think I'm gonna pass out from all the embarrassment." - Ren covering his face with his hands

"Come now, Ren. She's simply expressing her love for her child."- Yusuke sympathizes

"Anyway. Mom, don't you think it's time you and I continued our talk?" - Ren asked his mother

"But of course, dear. First, I wanted to give you something. I couldn't forget my own son's birthday." - She said as she pulled out Ren's gift

"This watch belonged to my late mother, Rosa, who would be your grandmother if she was still alive. She gave this to me when I was a child, but now, I'm passing it on to you, my beloved son. You wear it like necklace. This watch carries the memories of a sacred heritage from 500 years ago, and was worn by the ancient Umbran witches, who practiced and mastered magic of the dark arts. And I am one of their last remaining, clan members." - She told him

"It's soooooo shiny! This looks better than any treasure we've ever taken!" - Morgana admiring the watch

"Wait, let me get this straight, are you saying that your some magic conjuring magician?!" - Sojiro said acting surprised

"Not magician, love. A witch. There are only 2 of us left in the world, myself included, but now that I've reunited with my child, there are 3." - Cereza explained

"Woaaah! So that means, Ren can inherit your witch powers?! That is so effin sweet! Dude, you're so lucky!" - Ryuji asked

"That's right, with the proper training of course." - She replies

"Wait wait, hold on! I'm still processing this all at once. First you suddenly come back into my life after years and years of neglect, give me some shiny watch, and now your telling me that I have special powers because my mother is some magic wielding witch?!" - Ren grills his mother

"Mom, you've been gone for so many years of my life, and I have a lot more questions for you and I deserved an honest answer! Why did you leave me all alone?! Didn't you love me?! Your own only son?! How could you leave your only child behind?!" - Ren demanded

"Ren, I know it's a lot to take in right now, my dear, but please try to understand, I didn't leave you, because I didn't love you. You mean the world to me, sweetheart." - She tried to calm her son down

"Then why did you leave me?!" - Ren further questions his mother loudly

"Because I couldn't protect you!" - Cereza revealed

"What?!" - Ren asked

"We Umbran witches have a long terrible history with these creatures known as the Angels." - Cereza told him

"Angels? What do you mean?!" - Ren asked

"I can't tell you everything because we'll be here all day, but just know that the Angels are ruthless monsters who hate the Umbran witches and anything that carries even the slightest bit of remnants of them, and by remnants, I mean you, son." - Cereza explained

"Me?!" - Ren asked

"Yes. Because you are my biological son, you carry the blood of the Umbran witches and our powers as well, but your powers haven't seemed to completely manifest yet. You see, Ren, when you were a child, you didn't know how to control your power, so sometimes they would go out of control, that gave the Angels the opportunity to capture and take you away from me, so every now and then, I would stop and kill them to prevent anything happening to you. Until one day, I wasn't able to protect you anymore, which led me to making the hardest decision I've ever made, and that was having to erase part of your memory and give you up for adoption." - Cereza explained further

"So if Vincent and Katherine, aren't my real parents, does that mean they both knew as well?" - Ren asked

"Yes. I met them through your uncle Rodin. They had both gotten married at the time and desperately wanted a child." - She explained

Ren takes a seat and rubs his now aching head. So much has been revealed to him that he doesn't fully comprehend finding out his mother's a witch from an ancient witch clan, him having secret powers, finding out that he's been adopted this whole time. All is too much for him to take so he begins to walk upstairs to his room.

"Where're you going, dude?" - Ryuji asked

"I'm going to bed. I need to process this." - Ren replied with a depressing tone in his voice

"Aw that does that mean no cake then?!" - Futaba asked sounding disappointed

"I'll save it for tomorrow. You should all head home now, let the boy have his rest." - Sojiro advised

"Alright then. We understand, boss. Thanks for getting the cake and letting us use the store for the party." - Makoto thanked him

"My pleasure. You can all come back tomorrow and finish the cake if you like. It'll be right here waiting." - Sojiro told them

"Certainly." - Yusuke replied

"So...miss Cereza, correct? You have a place to stay tonight right?" - Sojiro asked

"I'll check into a hotel room, but before I do so, I do need a few minutes with my son please?" - Cereza asked

"Of course, just tell him to locked up once you leave." - Sojiro said

Everyone except for Cereza left LeBlanc and she heads up stairs to see Ren, who's already dress in his night clothes and in bed. She walks over to her son and sits right next to his lying body.

"Ren..." - she calls his name

"What? Got any more secrets you kept from me, you gonna leave me a second time?!" - Ren criticizes her

"I understand your angry with me, and there's no doubt that you have to right to be, but please understand, what I did was the hardest thing any mother had to do. It was the last thing I ever wanted and if I had the chance, would change it." - Cereza tried to ease her son's anger

"Besides, son, look at the bright side, it seems like everything's turns out quite well for you, you're in school and you've appeared to made quite a lot of friends too. Especially that brunette girl with the red eyes, she seems cute doesn't she?" - she tries to comfort him

Ren turns over and faces her in sheer anger

"You don't get it do you?! "Look at the bright side?!" Is that really all you have to say! This is more than just about you leaving, it's about you not being there for me?! For years, I needed you! Do you have ANY idea of what life's been for me without you?! Guess what happened to me last year?! I got arrested for an assault that I didn't even commit, mom! For trying to stop some perverted politician from raping a woman, who didn't even vouch for me even when I defended her honor! I ended up with a stupid crime on my record, got expelled from school, got put on probation, forcing me to move away from home, all the way down to Tokyo to start a new life, and worst of all, I had terrible rumors spread around the school about me saying I'm some kind of dangerous criminal and everyone there was either scared of me, hated me, or BOTH!" - Ren yelled

"Ren...I...I'm so sorry, baby. I...had no idea." - Cereza apologizes

"No, don't give me your damn sorries! 'Cause It's too late for that! 13 years too late! Don't you ever say "everything worked out quite well" because everything is FAR from it! In fact, everything you just told me, about me having your powers and being apart some witch lineage, only makes it worse! Now just go already! I'm serious, leave me alone, mom! Besides, you did it once, you can do it again!" - Ren ends his tirade and turns away from his mother

"Okay, son. I understand. I just wanted you to know that...I'm sorry. Also, that man told me to tell you to lock up before you go to sleep." - She reminds him of Sojiro's request

"I love you, Ren. Happy birthday, my sweet boy." - Cereza apologizes followed by a kiss on Ren's cheek

Ren doesn't bother to look back at her mother when she looks at him one last time before taking her leave. She starts heading back down stairs and begins to walk out of LeBlanc with a depressing look on her face. She looks back at Ren's room, which still had the light on and sighs before walking away to find a nearest hotel to stay for the night. Ren locks up the store, turns out his lights and heads right back up to bed, but before he slumbers, he takes the Umbran watch out of his pocket and looks at it for one last time and as his eyes gaze at the jewel implanted in the watch he hears his mother's words "My dear sweet child" again, causing him to go in a fit of rage. Ren gives a short growl and throws the watch at his work desk, opening it upon impact.

"My dear sweet child?! Hmph! Yeah fucking right!" - Ren says to himself before laying back down in bed

Looking back at the opened watch, a picture can be seen falling out of it showing a newborn Ren and his mother Cereza sleeping next to each other. There are some words written on the picture.

To my dear sweet child, Ren. I will always love you and our bond will always be forever. - Your dear mummy, Cereza.

End of Chapter 2

Well, there you have it! Ren and Bayonetta have finally reunited, only unfortunately, all is not too well with the mother and son. Thank you for reading my latest chapter, hope it was worth the wait, and thank you for all of the love and support on the series. I already have chapter 3 planned out and now I just need to get started on that one. So stay tuned! ;)


	3. Chapter 3: You were made by the stars

Chapter 3: You Were Made By The Stars

_**Ren is 3 years old in this chapter and will talk in childlike third person most of the time.**_

It was 10:00 o'clock at night. The night sky was illuminated by the full moon and the stars. The moon's reflection was practically covering the the lake. Swans could be seen swimming there squawking and flapping. The night was very beautiful. It was almost as beautiful as the mansion right next door to the lake. Inside the home was none other than the two Umbra Witches Cereza, who also goes by Bayonetta, and her best friend and fated rival Jeanne. However, it wasn't just those two living there, there was also the new little addition to their household. Cereza's new son, Ren. Ren had turned 3 years old a couple of months ago and has been talking a lot, but most of the time it was in third person. Ren has been a real challenge for Cereza to raise. For the most part, he's always been on his best behavior, with some complications here and there.

Cereza was preparing her son for bedtime by giving him his nightly bath. Ren was laughing and moving around the tub a lot and splashing at his mother's face. Normally, Cereza wouldn't tolerate obnoxious behavior from children, but seeing as this was her son and he was laughing and genuinely enjoying himself, she decided to play along with him and splash him back. Cereza began to smile a bit more than usual, whenever Ren was happy, she was happy. The only time Cereza ever truly found joy was when she was either shopping or killing angels and demons, but this time, after becoming a mother, she's changed and has found a new joy in her life and it was devoting herself to raising and spending time with her new son. She and Ren had become very close as mother and son and their bond has only gotten stronger.

"Hold still, little one, I have to get behind your ears." – Cereza told her happy child as he splash her

"Mommy's all wet!" – A laugh happy Ren says as he continues splashing

"Hmph, I try to give you a proper bath time and this is how you repay mummy?" – She says jokingly

Cereza finishes up washing Ren and dries him up after taking him out of the bath.

"Ren all clean now!" – Ren happily said to his mother

"You sure are, dear." – Cereza validates as she dries his frizzy hair

"Well you two seem to be having fun without me." – A tall woman in tight red biker clothing said standing outside of the bathroom door.

Jeanne had just finished grading tests and homework for her high school class, which she taught during the day and she also had to deal with angels during the night.

"AUNTIE!" – Ren yelled running towards Jeanne

Jeanne picks the clean boy up and smiles at him. She had never really been interested in small children, but when it came to her new nephew, she made it an exception. There were times when she would babysit him and even though it was hard at first, she began to grow closer to Ren and Ren began to love her as an auntie just as much as he did his mother. Ren was well behaved most of the time and has never really acted out in front of his mother or auntie, but it always made him happy to see his mother or auntie.

"You're looking quite shiny, my little hyperactive nephew." – Jeanne said following by giving Ren a kiss on his cheek

"Momma clean Ren!" – the small boy said

"And now "momma" needs to put her dear little one in his jammies and then straight to bed." – the tall mother said taking her child out of Jeanne's arms

"Yes. Momma." – Ren obeyed

After Cereza had finished clothing Ren for bed, she and Jeanne both walked the boy to his room. They both turn the lights out and tuck the boy into his bed right before telling him good night.

"Tell auntie Jeanne goodnight, sweetie." – Bayonetta told her son

"Night night, auntie! Ren love you! – the frizzy haired child told his auntie

"And auntie loves you too, Ren. Sweet dreams." Jeanne said to her nephew kissing him goodnight

"Goodnight, my son. Mummy will see you in the morning." – Cereza says as she kisses Ren goodnight

The two witches walk out of the bedroom and close the doors. Ren begins to drowse off and yawns heavily until he finally succumbs to a deep sleep.

**An hour an a half later into Ren's sleep**

Ren's head begins to turn left and right, he tightly clutches onto his blanket for dear life as of he's hanging onto the edge of a cliff. His mouth quietly is utters words only heard in his mind. Him legs and the rest of his body curls up until he is in full fetal position.

"Mama! Wake up!" – He mutters

"Mama, please wake up!" – he continues

His eyes are tightly shut and his teeth are clenched. Make no mistake, poor little Ren was having a nightmare.

**Inside Ren's dream**

_Blood red clouds and fog surrounds the area. The silence fills the atmosphere, a teenage boy dressed in a phantom's clothing donning a mask kneels over the body of a bloodied and battered woman. His tears fall from his cheeks onto the woman's face. He caresses the woman's hair ever so softly, as she coughs up blood. Her open wound in her abdomen is wide and deep. She has suffered severe physical trauma. Her eyes begin to close ever so slowly. Her breathing is fading by the second. Her heart beats drastically slows down._

"_Mama…please…don't give up!" – He begs her_

"_Please…don't leave me! Not again! NOT AGAIN!" – He sobbingly continues _

"_I need you..." – He goes on_

"_MAMA!" – He shouts_

_She places her hand on his face, covering one side of his mask. With the last ounce of her strength, she speaks._

"_My...dear…sweet…child, I'm…sorry…I..love you…my son…" – She utters before succumbing to her wounds_

"_Mama…no…MAMAAAA!" – He yells with his forehead pressed against his mother's_

_Her hand falls to the ground. Her life leaves her body. He can no longer stand. His will to continue fighting has completely depleted. All he can do, is stare into his mother's lifeless eyes._

"_With the final Umbra Witch dead, the Witch Hunts that have since been prolonged for eons, are now over! Those who defy fate, must be punished! It is the will of man. The will of the world! Your mother committed grievous sins and has been passed judgement upon her. Ruin is inevitable. And now, you who has defied fate and the will of a god for the last time, shall now share the same fate as you join her in the eternal flames of INFERNO!" – The mysterious bright large figure declared_

_Long dark red hands appear from underground. He grabs his mother's corpse and tries to escape, but to no avail. The hands grab hold of him carrying his mother, he tries to fight them off, but it's all for naught. They pull him and his mother under and all he could do was struggle and look up as the light from above seals away…_

**End of Ren's dream**

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" – Ren wakes up screaming

Ren eyes are still closed, he flails his arms left and right as he cries hysterically as if he's fighting off something. Cereza bursts through the door with one of her Love is Blue guns in her hand fearing the worst may have happened, but it wasn't the case. She turns the light on and rushes over to her hysterical child and tries to assess the situation.

"Little one! Little one! Ren! Calm down! It's mummy!" – She tries to calm him down grabbing both of his arms

Ren finally calms down and stops crying.

"Open your eyes, son. It's okay. It's me. Mummy's here." – She assures him

Ren finally opens his eyes which seem a bit red after being shut so tightly. His face is covered with tears, but Cereza uses her night gown to wipe them off.

"Mommy!" – Ren says right after tightly hugging feeling relieved that she's okay

"Dear boy, what happened? Did you have a bad dream?" – She asked her son

"Mmhm." – He nodded

"Mommy…was hurt! She was hurt very bad!" – He describes his dream.

"Monsters took mommy away!" – The sobbing boy describes further

"It's all over now, sweetie. Mummy's still here. Nothing's coming to hurt you. Please stop crying." – Cereza assures him

Cereza places her gun on Ren's night stand.

"You have to be brave to survive and live in this world, little one. This world may be beautiful, but it can also be a cruel scary place. However, you're a special boy born with hidden untapped powers and strength and some day, you'll be stronger than both me and your auntie combined." – She tells him

Hearing those words of encouragement makes Ren's tears clear up and he smiles. In an instant he already had forgotten his bad dream.

"Really?! I can be strong just like you and auntie, momma?!" – He asked excitingly

"Even better, my dear child!" – She uplifts him further

Cereza picks Ren up from his bed and hugs him She looks out the window for a brief moment and notices how bright the stars are. She smiles and looks back at her son.

"Come with me, Ren. Mummy wants to show you something." – She tells him as she proceeds to walk towards his doorway

"Yes, momma." – He responds

The two make it to Cereza's master bedroom. It was large and filled will all sorts of expensive luxurious clothes and dresses. Her bed took up about 1/3 of the whole room. On the left side of the room, there was a glass doorway that lead to a wide open balcony with an amazing view, perfect for star gazing. The two walk to the balcony and Cereza points up to the night starry sky.

"Look up at the stars, Ren." – She instructs him

"Stars are pretty, momma." – Ren tells her

"But of course they are, my dear. Do you know why mummy loves the stars so much?" – The mother asks him

"Why momma?" – He replies

"Because…that's where you came from." – She tells him

"Huh?" – The now confused boy said

"You see, little one. You aren't like other children. Most children are born by mothers and fathers. But your birth is very different compared to other children. 3 years ago, I made a wish upon these very stars and asked the stars to give me the most beautiful and handsomest child they could give me. The stars heeded my wish and shined their powerful ray of light into me and gave me…you. My son. My first child. My sweet little Ren.

You…were made by the stars." – Cereza tells her son the tale of her wish

"Wow." – Ren intrigued

"So, Ren. I want you do this incase you and I ever get separated or something ever happens to me, always look to the stars and we will always be together. Because the stars…will always unite the two of us." – Bayonetta assures her son

"Okay, momma." – Ren listened

Both Cereza and Ren gaze at the stars for a few more moments before returning inside. Jeanne then comes back home after finishing another angel job given to her by Rodin. She notices the two are still up.

"Cereza, what is my nephew still doing up late at this hour?! I thought we agreed his bedtime would be 9:30pm and not a minute later." – She playfully scolds her friend

"Your "nephew" had a bit of a bad dream, Jeanne." – Cereza tells Jeanne

"You alright, Ren?" – concerned Jeanne asked her nephew rubbing his head

"Yes, Auntie." – the boy responded

"Come on, son. Let's get you back to sleep." – Cereza says proceeding to walk Ren back to his room

Jeanne follows the two back to Ren's room and once again tuck him into bed. Ren starts to become a little bit scared again, fearing he might have another nightmare. She rubs his hair and tells him.

"It'll all be okay, Ren. Nothing's coming to hurt you. No matter what happens, your mummy and I both love you very much and we would never allow anything to hurt you." – the Auntie promised the young boy

Ren nods his head looking towards Auntie Jeanne.

Cereza rubs the back of his head and clears her throat

"Fly me to the moon and

Let me play among the stars." – She sang softly

"Let me see what spring is like on

Jupiter and Mars." – Jeanne joins in

"In other words, hold my hand

In other words, baby, kiss me." – Cereza follows up

"Fill my heart with song and let me sing forever more." – Cereza continues lying her son's head back on the pillow

"You are all I long for

All I worship and adore." – Jeanne continues while tucking her nephew in with his covers

"In other words, please be truuuuueee

In other words, I love youuuuuu." – The two women finish the lullaby then simultaneously giving the now sleeping boy a kiss on both sides of his cheeks

Ren is fast asleep after hearing his favorite lullaby sung by his mother and auntie. Whenever Bayonetta needed to put her son to sleep, she always had her favorite childhood song in handy. It was his mother and auntie's favorite song as kids, and when Ren first heard it, it became his. Cereza would always sing it close to Ren's ears because the lullaby would work most effectively that way. Hearing the soothing sound of his mother's angelic singing voice always made Ren drowsy and would always put the boy asleep.

"Sleep well, my dear sweet child. Mummy loves you." – Cereza whispers as she turns out the lights.

**The next day**

It's a bright sunny day. Cereza and Ren were both riding along with Enzo in his car on her way to her day job as a nun. Ren was sitting in a car seat in the back enjoying a cookie, while his mother enjoy her usual lollipops.

"How's your cookie, son?" – Cereza asks him

"Good, momma." – Ren replies

"Yeah yeah, just don't get any crumbs on the damn seats, Junior!" – a driving Enzo said focusing on the road

"His name is Ren, Enzo" – Cereza reminds him

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Still can't believe I gotta drive your ass all the way to this damn church. All the money you make from offin' those fuckin' halo wearing freaks and somehow, you still can't get your own damn car?! I swear, I just can't get a fuckin' break from this shit!" – Enzo vulgarly complains causing Ren to chuckle

"Enzo, language." – Cereza scolds him

"Fuggetabout iiiit! what's the worse that can happen?!" – The fat man justifies

"Shit!" – Ren laughingly imitates him

Cereza deathly glares at Enzo, he looks back at her while still trying to focus on the road.

"What?!" – Enzo questions

Cereza delivers a smack upside Enzo's head causing him to hit his head on the horn which made it go off. Cereza looks back at her son with a cold stare.

"Young man, Mummy never wants to hear you say that word again, do you understand me?" – Cereza scolds her son

"Sorry, momma." – Ren apologizes

"Ah give Junior a break, Bayonetta. Kid's gonna grow up and say it sometime eventually." – the undertaker defends the boy

"Which is why I don't want him growing up too soon." – She tells him

**At the church**

The three finally arrive at the church and Bayonetta was ready to do her usual task. She would leave Ren inside the church because it was the safest place for him to be in. Enzo's job was simple, bury corpses and Bayonetta would perform her ceremonies to lure out angels to kill them. Angels were no strangers to cemeteries, especially burials. Their intentions as to why they would always gather there where never entirely clear. Wether if it was for some soul sacrifice in order to reawaken their almighty creator and leader Jubileus? It was unknown, even to someone like Bayonetta, but of that mattered to her, what she cared for most was getting rid of the angels one by one and protecting her precious Ren.

"Stay here, Ren. Mummy has to go to work now. I'll be back soon." – She ordered her son

"Yes, momma." – the son complies

Ren knew about his mother's job as a nun, but didn't know about the fact that she and his auntie both fought angels on a regular basis. He wasn't old enough to fully understand what his mother had to do to provide for him and protect him, but that wouldn't make Ren think any less of the woman that gave life to him. What he truly wanted most was to be next to his mom because it made him happy and he knew it made her happy as well.

Ren was sitting on the church pew reading the Bible located behind the seat in front of him. It was really the only thing he could do, given that he had nothing else to do at all. His auntie Jeanne would help him read from time to time so it wasn't difficult for him to pronounce a few of the big words in the book, but still, the boy didn't really quite understand the meaning of the Bible at all. He would still read the verse out loud to only himself since no one else was around, but it was rather strange seeing as he was only 3 years old, it seemed like he was really being enthralled by the contents of the book.

**At the burial sight**

Enzo had just finished burying another grave, Bayonetta stands right next to him to perform the usual ceremony to lure the angels out from their hiding spot. She starts her prayers by opening up her bible and reading the proper verses.

"Dear Lord, grant this wandering soul your graceful guidance and protect this soul with your holy light."

A second passes and out of the sky, a bright light shines upon the grave. Bayonetta creates her portal to Purgatorio and jumps through it. The angels are well within her sights and in an instant, she changed into her skin tight Umbra Witch attire. She draws her weapons and smirks.

"Let's try not dance for too long now, darlings. I have a son waiting for his dear mummy after this." – She tells her angelic adversaries

A horde of Affinity all at once charge the witch, but to no avail. Their blood rains over the cemetery as Bayonetta quickly covers them in a flurry of bullets.

Ren could hear all the commotion outside and being curious as he was, he got up from his seat and decided to check what was going on. At the very least, he had hoped his mother was okay.

The frizzy haired child opened the door that led to the outside.

"Momma?" – Ren called for her

He saw the cemetery being desecrated and it felt like an earthquake was taking place, but as Ren stood there, his eyes began to reveal the realm of Purgatorio to him. Everything was in clear sight. Ren could now see his mother fighting the angels and picking them off one by one. Ren had heard about angels before, but in these weren't the typical ones he would see on his favorite television cartoons, these angels were far more different and he didn't like it one bit. He seemed afraid for what could possibly happen to his mother.

"Ma…mama?!" – The boy quietly says

Ren continues to stand outside the door stricken with shock. He was worried that she could get hurt, but luckily no such harm came to her. The bloodbath continues on and all seemed like it was just another walk in the park for the motherly witch, until she began to notice her son was standing outside watching. Bayonetta for a brief moment is surprised by her son, not because he disobeyed her orders to stay inside the church, but because he gained the ability to transport between the human world and Purgatorio. However, this moment was not met with praise. One of the angels had taken the advantage to blindside Bayonetta and attack her. She hadn't taken too much damage but it was enough to knock her back and make her lose focus. Bayonetta falls to the ground knocking over some of the tombstones. Ren is overcome with horror as he watched his mother fall from the air. Shock and awe fill his mind as tears instantly began to rapidly shed from his eyes.

"MOMMAAAAA!" – The traumatized boy screamed

Ren's cries was heard by 3 of the Affinity. They swarm over to the boy while the rest flocked to Bayonetta to finish the job. The 3 angels approach Ren and sense that he is paralyzed with fear to move, but he quickly comes to his senses and runs back inside the church and tries to hide under his seat, but the angels grab the boy anyway. With Bayonetta's son in tow, the Affinity begin to flee upwards into the sky as Ren struggles.

"Let me goooo! Mama! MAMAAA!" – He cries out for help

The 3 Affinity soon notice that the other angels who were suppose to finish off Bayonetta aren't in the sky with them. They look down and notice all of them have been killed. Bayonetta looks up to see her son is being taken away. Her eyes and in just mere seconds, she creates the angriest look on her face, a face she has never made. Bayonetta's mind soon became overcome with heated witch rage. Her purple aura turned into a dark violet and surrounded her entire body including her guns.

"Don't…you…DARE!" – The rage filled witch shouts

With every ounce of her power she jumps high into the sky with her teeth clenched and mouth so wide that her lipstick began to stretch. She soars until Affinity are well within her reach. The first Affinity tries to strike her , but fails to land the attack. She grabs it's spear and impales it through it's face with it. The second one tries to do the same, but Bayonetta dodges the spear, digs the barrel of her gun into it's face and pulls the trigger until the angel's face is full of holes.

"Mama…?" – the tears eyed son watches as his mother's rage blinds her

The first two fall to the ground, but the last angel that was holding Ren, was undeterred, but his enraged mother was about to change that with a brutal unpleasant vengeance. The angel uses it's one arm to hold the spear and unleashed a flurry of attacks, and to no one's surprises, it failed. The Affinity tries one last to stab Bayonetta, but this time, she grabs hold of the spear by it's blade and tightens her grip until the blade is running with her hand's blood. She removes the weapon from the angel's grasp and takes a quick look at the Affinity's wings and back to it. In a quick flash, Bayonetta slices the angel's wings off and begins to fall to the ground not before she takes her son back into her arms. The angel falls flat onto the church then falls onto the ground. It tries to crawl away with he last of it's strength. Bayonetta lands on the ground next to the angel and sets her son down. She walks over to the squirming abomination and kicks its face mask off revealing a horrifically gapping mouth with sharp teeth and multiple eyes, but no amount of hideousness was gonna douse the pissed off mother's rage.

"Do you wish to know why I absolutely loathe filthy fucking cockroaches? It's quite simple really…they just don't know how to keep their disgusting fucking paws off of things that don't belong to them. And do you know what you look like right now?" – Cereza angrily monologues

She clenches her fist, moves her arm and elbow into position and lands a hard powerful punch into the angel's eyes.

"A filthy. Fucking. Cockroach."

She clenches her other fist and continues to land blows again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, again, again, again, again, again, and again…

Each blow was scented with pure bloodlust and fury. Blood had splashed on the witch's forehead and cheeks. Some of the blood even landed on Ren, who was only standing only a few inches away from the barrage. He couldn't bear to watch the atrocious brutality his mother was inflicting. The tears in his eyes only grew. He tightly grabs his stomach with both arms, kneels to the ground and vomits.

Bayonetta stops her brutality and hears her son sobbing and vomiting. All of her lost senses come back to her and she quickly runs over to comfort him. She head pats his hair

"Ren...I'm sorry, baby." – Cereza covered in blood apologizes

Ren wipes his tears and looks up at his bloodied mother trying to reach out to him.

"**Sniff**...**sniff**…Momma…all dirty." – he points out

Cereza slowly pulls him in for a hug he deservingly needed. He still sheds some tears but she wipes them off as well as some of the angel's blood that was still on him

"I know, sweetie. Mummy shouldn't play so dirty like an unkempt mad woman, but more importantly. I should never lose my temper and focus in front of my own child. I'm so sorry, Ren. This is what happens when someone or something tries to harm a mother's child. A mother will do anything to protect her loved ones. No matter what happens, mummy will always protect you. I love you so much, Ren" – Cereza tells her son followed by a kiss on his cheek

"Ren...**sniff**…love you too…mommy." – the small boy responds covering his head into his mother's chest

The two hug each other tightly then Cereza picks up him up. Ren soon stops crying and closes his eyes. He rests his head on his mother shoulders. She rubs the back of his head and begins walking away from the church.

**At The Gates of Hell bar**

"YOU…DID…WHAT?!" – A mad white haired witch raised her voiced slamming her fist on the bar counter

"I couldn't leave him home by himself, Jeanne." Bayonetta tries to explain to her friend starring daggers her

"He could have been killed!" – She blames her further

"I know. I told him to stay put inside the church, I can't control him 24/7 on the dot. I may be a witch, but I'm not a beck and call nanny." – Bayonetta explains

"That's doesn't make it right, Cereza. Something could've happened to my nephew today and it falls on your head." – Jeanne scolds her

"I'm well aware of that fact, Jeanne! I've only been a mother for 3 years, you think I've gotten fucking amnesia again?!" – Cereza raises her voice

"Maybe not, but know this, daring. If I find so much as any hairs missing from my nephew's head or any blood coming out him and you'll have a lot more to worry about than just angels." – Jeanne daringly escalates intensifying her deathly cold stare

"Is that a threat, dear Jeanne?" – Cereza coldly asks her pointing one of her guns

Rodin interrupts his own drink mixing by slamming the mixer down on the counter and steps in to calm the storm that took place in front of him. He lowers Bayonetta's gun.

"Why don't we all just relax for a bit, all this heat is bad for business, baby." The large demonic black man says lighting up a cigar with his lighter thumb

The two woman settle down, but look down at their unfinished drinks.

"Now then, let's look at the bright side, shall we?The kid's safe and sound and isn't hurt one bit, but still, I gotta know something cause Imma bit confused now, and I'm pretty sure I already know the answer, but Bayonetta…how did Ren learn to cross over to Purgatorio so early?" – The bartender asks

"I don't know, Rodin. He's only 3, he certainly didn't learn from me. My only assumption could be that his powers must have manifested early. Earlier than I expected" – Cereza explained

"Where is he now?" – Jeanne asks

"In the back room sleeping." – He replies

"He fell asleep on the way here." – Cereza tells her

"It's not easy to explain, but it's possible that Ren's process might have accelerated." -Jeanne claims

"Define "accelerated"." – Rodin asked

"He's gaining his new powers at a faster rate, even faster than when you and I were children." – Jeanne clarifies

"It's probably for the best that he doesn't let his emotions escalate, there is the possibility of his powers exploding. And I'm sure you can already imagine the end result." – Rodin explains

"Momma! Momma!" – A loud child's voice rang through two women's ears

"Ren?! What's wrong little one?!" – the concerned mother

The two women rush to the back room with Rodin taking his time behind them. They walk in and turn on the lights, but to their surprise Ren isn't in the bed.

"Darling, where are you?" – Cereza asked

Both Cereza and Jeanne look around until Rodin taps both of their shoulders and points up. Shock fills the two women to see that the young 3 year old boy was standing on the ceiling surrounded by a purple circle below him.

"Momma…Ren can't get down!" – the upside down child said

Cereza and Jeanne's eyes widen in complete surprise to find the her son already realizing his powers. Cereza jumps up and pulls her son off of the ceiling and lands back down.

"Are you okay little one?" – She asks him

Ren, seeming upset, looks into his mother's eyes.

"Momma? What am I?" – He asked

Cereza pulls his head in and hugs him tightly. Not answering his question. Jeanne looks down thinking about the dangers that could come for the poor boy had he had not learn to control his new abilities soon. Motherhood for Cereza from this point on would only become more of a complication for her. Her son had just awakened his witch powers, but has no sort of control over them. A new obstacle in both Cereza and Ren's life has just emerged and there was no turning back.

**End of Chapter 3**

_Thank you for reading the latest chapter in my Bayonetta/Joker series, I wanted to take my time with this one and add a more to this chapter to give a little perspective into Ren's childhood with Cereza. I wanna start doing some short chapters too to add more to either the overall story and/or just for fun. Until then, thank you everyone who followed and favorited this story! Thanks for the great feedback from the last chapter! Until next time, guys! _😉


	4. Side Chapter 1: My Dear Grandson

Side Chapter 1: My Dear Grandson

_**Set a year after Chapter 3 **_

4 year old Ren was outside, in his backyard, where it was a Spring-filled flower fields, he and his mother, Cereza, would always walk through there to go to the park to play with each other. He was carefully searching around the meadow for a beautiful flower to give to his mom, for tomorrow was Mother's Day. Ren wanted to make tomorrow as authentic and graceful as possible. He wanted to show Cereza how grateful he was to have such a beautiful, loving, and caring mother. However, finding the perfect flower for her proved to be a rather great difficulty as he couldn't find the specific flower he knew she would love. He was searching for a blue rose. The color was his mother's favorite. Ren's auntie Jeanne told him about the rose and that it blooms once every year in the very fields he was scavenging around in.

"Hmmmm…this so hard!" – Ren complained failing to locate the rose

Ren stands up and hangs his head in shame thinking he'll never find it. He turns around only to notice a tall black figure standing before him. He looks up and instantly assumes it's his mother, but it wasn't…

"Are you having trouble, little one?" – the tall figure

"Ye…yeah, but who are you?" – the boy asked

The woman kneels to Ren and places her hand on his head. She gives him a bright smile.

She was a beautiful woman dressed in a black robe wearing a eye mask that was in the shape of a butterfly. Her black hair was very long and had stretched all the way down to the back of her knees and her boots were very similar to Bayonetta's.

"My name…is Rosa." – She reveals

"Hi, I'm Ren." – the little boy replied with a smile

"What is it that you're looking for, little one?" – Rosa asked

"I'm trying to find a blue rose for momma." – the child told her

"Looking for flowers for mummy for Mother's Day, dear little one?" – Rosa asked

"Yeah, but I can't find it." – he informs her

"Well then, little one, it just so happens that I know where it is." – She tells the boy

Ren springs up with excitement and grins

"REALLY?! Where?!" – He asked loudly

"Hehe, do calm yourself, little one, I can take you to where the blue rose is, but you have to promise to stick with me and not run off aimlessly like a mouse, understood?" – Rosa ordered him

"Mmhm!" – Ren complied

"Very well, then. Shall we be off, little one?" – She says taking his hand

"Okay!" – Ren happily responds

"In there, that's where the blue rose is…follow me and remember what I told you." – Rosa points to the forest next to the swan lake

"Okay, lets go!" – a happy determined Ren

The two finally begin to set off into the forest to find Ren's mother the blue rose. Rosa held Ren's hand most of the time so he wouldn't run off wildly. After half an hour of walking, the woman and child begin to notice a bright light a couple of feet away.

"What's that, Rosa?" – the curious boy asked

"That, dear little one, is where the blue rose is located. Stay right next to and don't vier off" – Rosa replied

"Okay." – He obeyed

The two walk closer and closer to the light as it grew larger and wider. Ren could feel something behind the light, he felt something like a strange force, but it was too much for him to describe. Ren clenched Rosa's hand a bit tighter and they soon both began to step through the light.

Both the tall woman and small child reach the other side and what Ren saw was unlike anything he had ever seen in his very young life. It was beautiful heaven-like location filled to the brim with beautiful gardens and meadows. Ren couldn't help but keep his eyes open, the scenery was just too enticing.

"Woooooow!" – He said enthusiastically

"Beautiful isn't it, my boy?" – She asked

"I love this place!" – He said happily

"Now then, that blue rose should just be beyond across that bridge over there." – Rosa pointed out

"Okay!" – Ren responded

The woman and child make their way over across the bridge and they notice a shiny blue aura, of course it was the blue rose.

"Look! There it is!" – Ren yelled

Ren makes a wide smile upon gazing at the rose as he quickly lets go of Rosa's hand to grab it to take it back home.

"Little one, wait! Don't run off, it's dangerous!" – She warned the hyperactive boy.

Unfortunately her warning came too late, by the time Ren had reached the flower, an giant angel had appeared behind him. It was a Beloved AMD it had already set it's sights on the young boy.

"LITTLE ONE!" – Rosa shouted running over to the boy

"What's that?!" – Ren panically asked

"A monster, daring, stay behind me! I'll take care of this!" – Rosa ordered the young boy

Soon after the Beloved appeared, more groups of Angels started appearing from the sky. Rosa has soon transformed her black robes into a new outfit all together. It was a long black dress that sported chains around her wrists and chest with loose belts on her limbs with a hood that covered her face and head. Her long hair was tied up and facing upward similar to a beehive. It was self evident at this point that Rosa, like both Cereza and Jeanne, was also an Umbra Witch.

Ren had already seen his mother fight as a witch once before after accompanying her on her job as a nun. He what the angels of Paradiso were, but only saw the low ranking angels known as the Affinity, but the Beloved angels on the other hand, were a different story, they're giants that tower over the tallest of humans, but that made no difference to powerful humans like Rosa, who had already drawn her weapons preparing to fight. She wielded four golden detailed revolvers in both her hands and on the backside of her heels. The angels soon charged towards the woman and child and Rosa charged to the angels as well. She drew the barrel of her gun in front of the first angel closest to her and started blasting. She displays an ongoing angel onslaught releasing a series of punches and kicks synchronized with gunshots. Ren standing with his back against the blue rose he had sought out for his mother was only paying attention to Rosa and quickly remembered that day he witnessed Cereza in the same scenario.

"She…looks like…mommy." – He said to himself

He continued to stare and observe the witch as she continued her battle, but it wouldn't last very soon as an angel appeared close to Ren and tried to grab him, but worked to no advantage as Rosa immediately spotted the angel quickly fired a powerful shot into it's face.

Looking back at Rosa, most of the angels are all dead and have vanished, but the Beloved was still intact. It tried to attack her as many times as it did, but Rosa easily predicted and countered all of it's strikes. Feeling weak and defeated, the angel backs away from the witch in humiliation. It looked around for a way out until it finally noticed Ren. In an attempt to take him as a hostage, the large angel charges at the child at full force with every ounce of it's strength. Rosa immediately transforms into her beast within form, which was a black tiger. She tries to reach to Ren in time to stop the Beloved, but it seemed like she was about to be too late, she had used up most of her energy when she was fighting, but she knew she couldn't allow the monster to obtain the boy. She wouldn't forgive herself if she had let an innocent child get hurt.

"LITTLE ONE!" – Rosa shouted

A scared teary eyed Ren panics and raises his hands towards the charging angel and yells.

"NOOOOOOO!" – He yells at the top of his lungs

"For a moment, Ren keeps his eyes closed but begins to slowly open them wondering why the monstrosity stopped it's attack. He widens his sight only to see not just the Beloved, but Rosa, the plains, and everything around him brought to an absolute halt. Ren's witch powers had once again activated and this time, he unlocked Witch Time, the ability to temporarily stop time. The boy ran over to Rosa's position to get out of the angel's way. He felt sick and begin to grow unconscious.

Time had resumed normally and the angel's charges continued until it hit a rocky wall. Rosa has reverted back to her human form and began a chant.

"AAAAARRRZUUULLLEEE!" – Rosa yelling the chant while performing the usual incantation dance to summon her most common demon known as Gomorrah

Rosa's hair extends itself and flys into the ground creating a large portal, allowing Gomorrah to appear from below making it's big entrance. The demon roars resembling a trumpeting elephant. It wasted no time whatsoever making a quick meal out of the Beloved with each chew spurting more and more blood out of the giant angel until the final chew snapped it's large body in half. The angel was dead and it's body had vanish. Gomorrah is soon brought back under it's portal and Rosa's hair returns to normal and she runs over to an unconscious Ren.

"Little one!" – She says to herself

The woman picks the boy up and observes his body.

"That power…I recognize it. That was the same as…Cereza's. Her Umbran powers and blood are all inside you. Then there is no mistaking anymore, little one…you are the son…of my dear Cereza…my grandchild!" – She said to the unconscious child while her voice broke eventually causing her to cry tears of joy

"My sweet Cereza, you had a child." – She said to herself

Realizing that Ren is her grandson, Rosa hugs his unconscious body and cries even more. Happy at the thought of now being a grandmother, she happily carries Ren, who was now sleeping. She grabs the blue rose they were both originally looking for and places it in the sleeping child's hands.

"Your mummy will love this, my dear grandson. She'll love this knowing it came from you." – She said to the sleeping boy

"Come, grandson, lets get you home." – She said to him

Rosa's witch uniform reverts back to it's normal robes carrying Ren both make it back to the forest, where it was already nighttime. She reached the end of the forest and returns to the backyard where she first encountered the boy. She detects Ren's bed room by looking closely through all the windows, she uses her powers to create a portal between outside and his room and proceeds to walk through it.

Rosa observes Ren's room and is pleased with how neat and clean it was. She places Ren on his bed with his hands still holding the Rosa. She places her hand on the sleeping child's frizzy hair and rubs it. She smiles. She suddenly retracts her hands as she hears a noise coming from downstairs inside the house. It was both Cereza and Jeanne after returning from searching for Ren, thinking he got lost somewhere in the forest.

"How could I let this happen, Jeanne?! My own son is lost out there and for all we know angels could've already taken him!" – a distraught Cereza panics

"Don't think like that, Cereza, Ren couldn't have gone far." – Jeanne speculates

Cereza is overcome with grief, until she senses a huge amount of power and energy coming from Ren's room.

"Jeanne, do you feel that?!" – The raven haired woman asked

"Yes. It's coming from Ren's room." – Jeanne pointed out

Both witches instantly draw their guns and quickly make their way up to Ren's room, Cereza is the first to reach to the door and gives Jeanne a signal before barging in. After quietly counting down by 3, Cereza rushes through the door with her Love is Blue gun whipped out. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops in disbelief as she not only sees her son sleeping safe and sound, but her own mother, Rosa right next to him. She puts her gun away.

"Shhhhh…you mustn't be so noisy, Cereza. Your dear boy is sleeping." – Cereza's mother whispered rubbing her sleeping grandson's body

"Mummy?" – Cereza said softly but just loud enough for Rosa to hear

"Unbelievable. I'll just let you two…catch up I guess." – a surprised Jeanne said putting her gun away

Jeanne walks out of her nephew's room.

"He's so beautiful, Cereza." – Rosa compliments

"How is this possible? You died…in my arms." – Cereza questioned her late mother

"Of course I did, but even we witches, as powerful as we are, find our own ways to visit the living." – Rosa explains without context

"You found Ren? Just where were you two?!" – Cereza asked

"Paradiso…" – Rosa reveals

"WHAT?!" – Cereza says loudly

"Shhhhh…" – Rosa interjects

Rosa goes back to Ren, still sleeping and picks him up and held him in her arms revealing the blue rose he was still holding in his hand

"He was looking for this. I wanted to give it to you for Mother's Day tomorrow."- She explained

Cereza takes the rose from her son's hand and glances at it.

"His powers of the Umbra have grown, Cereza. He's only a child and already learned how to stop time. From today alone, I truly believe that with the proper training, he could become the first male heir to the Umbra Witch clan." – Rosa theorizes

"He used Witch Time?" – a shocked Cereza asked

"Precisely. Cereza, for many years, the strongest of Umbra Witches have been all female. Thousands of years have we rarely seen a strong Umbra male more powerful than their female counterparts. Ren is the first one in centuries to possessed such immense power, but he is not yet capable fully grasping the magnitude of his Umbra heritage." – Rosa explains to her daughter

Cereza looks at her sleeping child

"The angels tried to take him last year, but I quickly stopped them. He somehow crossed over into Purgatorio by himself. Mummy, the stronger he gets, the more I fear that I may not be able to protect him…my own son." – Cereza said feeling disheartened

"You are an Umbra Witch, Cereza. Among one of the last surviving Witches in existence. You and Jeanne both carry the pride of our once proud clan, that boy you're holding will one day depend on your guidance so that eventually, he may carry the Umbra's pride himself. Cereza, when I was banished from our clan, I wasn't able to raise you properly, but I did my best from within my cell to be there for you the most I could. Even after my death, you were still able to move forward with your existence and conceive a beautiful child of your own. Now it is your time to do the same and do right by him." – Rosa explains

"Cereza, this boy…he must become the new heir of the Umbra Witches, when his powers have reached their pinnacle, he must take his rightful place as the leader of our clan. Raise him and protect him better than I have done for you, my dear sweet child." – Rosa says placing her hand on her daughter's cheek smiling

"Mummy…" – Cereza says softly

"I must leave you now, daughter, but not without goodbye to my grandson." – Rosa says now placing her hand on Ren's head

"Grandmummy has to go now, my sweet little grandson. Grow up and become a strong man. I love you." – Rosa tells her grandson following by a kiss on his forehead

"Farewell, my dear Cereza. Remember my words." – Rosa says as she vanishes

"Mummy…thank you." – Cereza says to her now departed mother

Cereza places Ren back into bed kisses him goodnight. Rather than just accepting the blue rose from him right away, she felt it would be best to just let him give it to her himself tomorrow.

"Sweet dreams, my son, mummy loves you." – She says as she leaves his room

_**The next day: Mother's Day **_

Little Ren wakes up and he smiles as he sees the rose he has searched very hard for still in his hand. The happy child runs to his mother's room to find her still sleeping on her king sized bed. Ren jumps up on her bed, which wakes up Cereza, and gives her a hug.

"Happy Mother's Day, momma!" – the happy child said

Cereza puts on her glasses and smiles at Ren and chuckles while returning the hug to him

"Thank you, little one!" – Cereza thanked her son giving him a kiss on his cheek

"I have something for you, momma!" – the boy tells her

"Ooh, really? What is it, dear?" – Cereza asked

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands, momma!" – Ren instructed

"Ooooh a surprise. Alright then, little one." – Cereza playing along with her son know what she's about to receive

Cereza holds out her hands and Ren places the blue rose in them.

"Open your eyes, mommy." – Ren tells her

Cereza eyes open and upon seeing the rose, she gasps

"Little one, it's so beautiful! You went through all of that trouble just to find this for mummy?!" – She happily asked

"Yes, momma. I love you!" – Ren hugs her again

"Thank you so much, Ren. I love this all too much, but not as much as I love you, my dear sweet child." – Cereza express her gratitude hugging him back and kissing his forehead again

"Someone help me find it, momma. She look just like you!" – Ren tells his mother about Rosa

"Did she now?" – Cereza asked already knowing about it

"Yeah. Where is she?" – Ren replied

"Well I don't know where she could be now, little one, but wherever she is…" – Cereza pauses looks out her window seeing Rosa smiling as her reflection

"…I'm sure she already knows you gave this to me, and I'm sure she's very happy with you." – Cereza finishes

**End of Side Chapter 1**


	5. Chapter 4: Your Debt Must Be Repaid

Chapter 4: Your Debt Must Be Repaid

_**Set a week later after Chapter 2**_

_Friday, March 29__th__ 20XX_

_4:00 PM_

_Shujin Academy (after school)_

The school day had just finished and the students were either staying after to study, attend club meetings, school sporting practice, or just going home. 17 year old Ren Amamiya is about to head home by himself, not even saying goodbye to all of his friends. Ren, for the past few days now, has been quite feeling a bit rather upset and slightly depressed. His mother, Cereza, after many years of parental absence, had finally returned in his life and ultimately revealed to him that he wields powerful abilities and traits once possessed by the ancient dark arts clan known as the Umbra Witches, that he could not control, which would allow angels an opportunity to attack the small family, thus forcing Cereza to put him up for adoption. However, after growing up without a mother for 13 years, Ren could only greet Cereza's sudden appearance and this new revelation with years and years of pent up animosity and hostility towards his own mother for abandoning him and leaving him with another family_._

Ren walks out of the school doors and sees his friend Mishima Yuuki standing by them. He seemed as if he was waiting for him.

"_Hey, Ren." – _Yuuki said to him as he walked out

Ren's eyes open a bit more as he stops to talk to his friend and classmate.

"Oh hey, Mishima. What's up?" – Ren greeted

"Just wondering if you were walking home?" – He asked

"Yeah why?" – Ren replies

"Nothing weird or anything, but I-I was hoping I could go walk back with you…j-ju-just to get coffee! C-cause I know you live at a coffee shop…r-right?!" – Mishima nervously asked

"Oh…uh sure I guess." – Ren accepts

"Oh great, let's get going then." – Mishima further suggests

So the two teenage boys begin walking back to the subway to take the train back to Café Leblanc in Yongen-Jaya. Both boys reach the district half an hour later and are close to the coffee shop. As they are walking back, Ren tells Mishima all about his past with his mother and her unexpected return during his birthday

"Wow! That's really bizarre! All this time, so not only were you were adopted, but your mom is apart of an ancient witch cult?!" – Mishima asked curiously

"Seriously, you're not the least bit freaked out by the whole "my mom being an ancient witch and me having creepy witch powers" part?" – Ren asked his friend

"Well…I mean it's surprising, but then again, you and Phantom Thieves are able to change people's hearts by going inside their deepest desires. If anything, I'll believe anything at this point." – Mishima accepts Ren's bizarre backstory

"Yeah…you could imagine the kind of birthday I've had last week." – Ren sighs

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I just wanted to know what was going on with you and if you were feeling alright. You've been sorta down ever since your birthday passed." – a concerned Mishima apologizes

"It's alright, you don't have to feel sorry for me. It's just that, my mom has been away from my life for 13 years, and when she suddenly came back, she acted as if she never left in the first. Like a parent coming home from their everyday job." – Ren expresses his frustration

"She's always so cocky, nonchalant, and callous without a care in the world. She acts like she's so tough and immune to anything like nothing could hurt her physically, mentally, or even emotionally, but underneath all that wolf's skin of hers, she's just another sheep." – Ren carelessly berates his mother

Mishima puts his hand on Ren's shoulder to calm him down a bit

"Let's just take it down a notch. I may not know what's it's like to have absent parents, but I do know what it's like to feel alone. I'm sorry that all happened to you, Ren." – Mishima once more apologizes to Ren

"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't let myself go off like that. Especially in front of my friends." – Ren apologizes back

"It's fine, come on, lets just get a coffee." – Mishima suggested

The two finally make it back to the café and as they walk through the door, both instantly notice a tall beautiful woman sitting at the bar side sipping a coffee while petting a sleepy Morgana. That y'all beautiful woman of course being Ren's own mother Cereza.

"Hello, son! How was school today?!" – Cereza happily greets her returning son

"Oh…hey…mom." – Ren slightly hesitates to return the greetings to his mother

Cereza places her cup back on the small plate and places it back on the bar while also placing Morgana on the floor, which awakens him. She stands up and holds out her arms to Ren

"Well don't just stand there like a shy deer in the headlights, little one. Come hug your mum! Tell me all about your day at school!" – She insists

"Hug your mom, you idiot! When a beautifully fair maiden such as this offers a sincere warm hug, it is your duty to accept it!" – the white knight Morgana demands the frizzy haired boy to do so

Ren sighs and moves closer to her. Still holding vitriol against his mother, Cereza tries to be the bigger person and ignore it. She softly yet firmly hugs her child while the latter only pats her back. Mishima stands there standing in admiration for Ren's mother upon seeing her for the first time. Mishima is no stranger to gorgeous women, but he's never seen a woman like Cereza up close before in his life.

"Th-this is...his mom?! Sh-she's…so…so beautiful! She's like…a…a goddess!" – Yuuki thought to himself

"Oh my, son. Is he another one of your friends?" – She asked

Mishima snaps out of his blushing trance, and straightens himself up to face Cereza forward as he clears his throat.

"U-u-um…my name is Mishima, ma'am! Mishima Yuuki! I'm Ren's classmate. It's a pleasure to finally meet his mother!" – a nervously red cheeked Mishima politely introduces himself

Cereza releases her hugging grip from her son, and takes a good look Mishima while walking towards him. Mishima begins to sweat nervously from his forehead. She gently placed her hand on his should and moves him in for a friendly introductory hug, but to Mishima, it was like ecstasy. Mishima could smell the strong rose perfume smell on her and to him it was like he was under a witch's spell. His eye contact with the mother was perfectly aligned.

"Call me Cereza. I must say, my dear son has certainly made such handsome friends. You must be a real heartbreaker to all the girls in your class." – She compliments the clearly shy boy while winking at him

Mishima's sweating begins to intensify. This is the first time he's ever been so physically close to a beautifully gorgeous woman on Cereza's level. He felt like he was in heaven without being dead.

"You alright, dear? You seem to be tense…" – a smiling Cereza asked the sweating boy

The flustered Mishima snaps out of it and comes back to reality trying to clear himself from the embarrassing moment.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, it's just that…you're very beautiful." – Mishima compliments her

Cereza soon begins to caress the boy's cheek following all the way down to his chin, which he lightly grabs after.

"Why thank you. You're very kind. If only more men your age would know how to treat a lady as good as you do. You're a very rare one indeed, my dear." – She thanks the boy

Mishima gulps loudly

"Mom, please stop cougaring my friend. You're making him sweat." – an irritated Ren stated

"I'm just saying hello to your friend, dear." – Cereza rationalized

"Mom, I don't think getting that close and getting all touchy feely with him is how you introduce yourself to someone, especially an underaged teenager." – Ren clarifies

"I-It's okay. You're fine, Ms. Cereza." – Mishima said not feeling offended by her seemingly lustful introduction

"See, little one? He doesn't mind." – Cereza justifies

"Fine…and please don't call me "little one", I'm not kid anymore, I just turn 17 last week, I'm almost an adult." – Ren requested

"It's no matter to me, darling. You're still always going to be mummy's little Ren-Ren." – Cereza says while lightly pinching her son's cheek

"Ow, mom please!" – Her now embarrassed son pleaded

"Oh calm down, sweetie. I'll be out of your way." – Cereza assures her son

"Thank you." – Ren aggravatingly thanks her

**A half an hour later**

Both boys are drinking their coffee that Ren made and are completing homework. They're both almost finished and Mishima's starting to get a hang of the geometry problems.

"Correct! Man, I'm am just at it today!" – a proud Mishima self congratulates

"You're really on this are you, math wiz?" – Ren asked chuckling

"Guess I don't have to worry about the test next week!" – Mishima chuckles

"So anyway, how's the Phan-site doing lately? I haven't checked it in a while?" – Ren asked about the Phantom Thieves Aficionado webpage

"Huh? Oh yeah! It's been doing good! A lot of people are asking you guys about what happened with that last person who's heart you guys stole? Other than that, I've been getting just regular heist requests." – Mishima informs him about the site

"Good. The more people supporting the Phantom Thieves, the better." – Ren said satisfyingly

"Yeah, and I heard even the police are starting to step down a bit. Some of them might even be supporting you guys." – Mishima gives the positive news

"Impressive. This should make heists and investigations a lot more smooth sailing. With less cops in the way, stealing hearts'll be a cinch from here on." – the frizzy haired boy confidently ponders the future

Both boys finish their homework and close their textbooks. Mishima stands up and stretches and yawns after a hard working session of homework. He gathers all of his papers and textbook and places them all in his school bag.

"Welp, guess I'd better start heading back home. Think I'm gonna work on the site a little when I get back." – Mishima plans as he begins to start walking towards the shop's exit

"Alright, then. I'll see you in class tomorrow, man." – Ren says goodbye to his friend

"Bye." – Mishima says before walking out the door.

The door closes all the way and the bell on top of it rings. Ren gathers all of his books and homework papers and places them in his school bag. He takes his belongings upstairs to his room and begins to head back downstairs. He sees Morgana lying on the barstool.

"I gotta say, Mishima's been very dedicated to the Phantom Thieves and our success. Too bad he's not a persona user, would've liked to have him come along with us on missions." – The cat said

"Heh heh, what would his Persona even be?" – Ren asked chuckling

"Who knows? A persona is something that represents your rebel spirit, but can't exactly tell what his rebel spirit is." – The cat explains

Ren's grabs his bag and makes his way to the door.

"Well until then, he's our great Phan-site admin, that provides all of our Mementos quests. We should get to those this weekend by the way." – Ren

"Say, where you heading to this late?" – Morgana asked the boy

"The bathhouse…it's been a while since I've been there. I wanna wash up before I sleep, tomorrow's gonna be a Phantom Thieves day. Tomorrow, after school, we go into Mementos and complete our Phan-Site requests. So rest up and don't oversleep." – Ren announces

"Sure thing, leader! Don't stay there for too long! I expect Joker to be top notch and full bore tomorrow!" – Morgana euphorically suggests

"Got it." – Ren responds

"Hey, one more thing, where's your beautiful mother, I could really go for another soothing petting session before I turn in?" – love sick Morgana asks

Ren turns his attention back to the door after looking at the cat and retracts his smile into a stoic face.

"Who knows…and who really cares?" – Ren frustratingly responds

He leaves the shop and closes the door behind him and begins to make his way to the bathhouse.

"Geez…he's really touchy about his mother whenever she comes up huh?" – Morgana asks himself

**Meanwhile at the Bathhouse**

Ren is sitting in the bathtub alone with the entire bathroom foggy and the bath water very lukewarm. His eyes are closed as he thinks back to the time he was a child, when he and his mother Cereza were as close as a mother bird and a baby chick. He remembers when she would always play hide and seek with him and she would always win because of how good she was at spotting her son. Or the time when he would wear her boots to playfully imitate her. However, these memories would only prove fruitless. With each passing memory he reminisced, they would only bring up the fact that in the end, his mother gave him up for adoption, which in turn, he would feel only anger and distain towards her even more. His eyes opened and he sits up.

"Why, mom? Why would you do that to me?" – He tells himself.

"Do what, dear?" – the voice of elegant English woman asked

Ren turns his head to the right and see that none other than his mother, who was naked, was in the tub with him as well. This makes him jump up and cover up his pelvis. Soap bubbles were covering more of her private parts.

"MOM! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?!" – Ren yells at her

"I'm bathing, dear. And please try to keep your voice down, you'll attract unwanted attention." – Cereza tries to de-escalates her son's yelling

"But this is the men's bath! You shouldn't be in here, if someone comes in, they'll get the wrong idea or even worse call the police!" – Ren warms his mother

"Do calm yourself, son. No one would even dare to bother us. Besides, it's "mixed bathing day" here.

"Wh-what?! "Mixed bathing day"? – the now confused boy asked

"Right, son. The day where both genders are allowed to bathe with each other. Look over there." – Bayonetta explains pointing to the sign above her head

Ren looks up sees the sign

_**Today is Mixed Bathing Day!**_

_Both genders may enjoy a hot bath together!_

_But please, keep any and all physical contact appropriate. Thank you for your cooperation!_

Ren finishes looking at the sign and facepalms himself.

"You've got to be kidding me." – a miffed Ren says

"You see, Ren? Now stop your childish frustrations and come sit next to mummy so she can wash your back and hair." – Cereza orders her son

Ren sits back in the tub but not next to her as she demanded. She sighs and moves closer to him with a hand full of shampoo and pats it on his frizzy hair and begins scrubbing it firmly.

"Ahh, hey! What are you doing?!" – Ren asked his mother

"I need to contain this wild mess you call your hair, little one. Honestly, I don't know why I let you walk around in public looking like giant paintbrush. Oh damn, speaking of brushes, I should've brought mine with me." – Cereza expresses her distaste for Ren's hair

"I like my hair the way it is, can you please stop now?!" – annoyed Ren asked her

"There! All done, dear. Now for your back." – Cereza finishes

"I can get my own back! I don't need my mom washing me like I'm a baby. I reach it on my please." – Ren harshly tells her

"What's wrong, dear? Why are you acting so bothered and upset. You never acted like this. You always enjoyed taking baths with mummy." – the mother asked her son

"I. Was. A kid, mom! I don't need you coddling me like that." – Ren infuriatingly replies

"I suppose your right, son, but do understand that I only do that because I care about you so much. We haven't seen each other for such a long time that I just missed the time when you and I were together like this. Don't you remember how you would always splash me when were in the bath together, dear?" – She asked him

Ren stares off into space and begins to remember one of the days back when he was still a baby. Cereza and him would take baths with each other. He would always playfully splash her and put soap on her face and she would always get him back for it. The two during times when both of them were alone, that was when their relationship as mother and son truly shined and prospered.

_**Flashback**_

_Cereza is in the tub with 9 month old Ren. She is sucking on one of her favorite lollipops while Ren is splashing her with the bath water and soap. She retaliates by doing the same to him. The baby tries to splash her again, but misses her narrowly. _

"_Ooh so close, my sweet boy." – Cereza chuckles _

_The baby giggles and coos as he slaps his mother's shoulder. Cereza grabs a handful of soap and splats it on her baby's head causing the boy to giggle some more and clap his hands. She begins to scrub it lightly. Ren then grips the lollipop that Cereza was sucking on in front of him. He wanted it for himself and seeing as he was her son and she always kept some on her, she let him have it. The boy opens his mouth and starts eating it. Cereza keeps her hand on the stick so that he wouldn't accidentally swallow it whole and choke on it. Seeing her baby son eat her lollipop made Cereza genuinely smile, which was rare for her because she had always been separated from her mother and father even as a child, so finally becoming a parent brought out emotions in Cereza that seemed non-existent. _

_Ren finishes his candy._

"_Did you enjoy that, sweetie?" – Cereza asks her son_

_Baby Ren looks up and smiles at his mother signifying that he liked the candy. Cereza smiles back at the baby and grabs another handful of soap but this time softly blows it out of her hand to make it look like it was snowing. Baby Ren is overjoyed by this little trick of hers and tries to catch the falling bubbles with his hands. Cereza tussles his hair admiring her baby's enthusiasm then picks him up and kisses his cheek making the boy pat her forehead. _

_**End of Flashback**_

"That was a long time ago, mom. Now a days, I'm trying to forget that past and toss it aside..." – Ren says grabbing his towel.

"…kinda like how you did to me." – He finishes

Cereza's facial expression drops and begins to look upset. Her son was still not budging, not yet ready to forgive her for her absence. He starts walking back to the changing room to change back to his clothes and leave.

"Ren…listen to your mother, what I did was to protect you, to keep you alive. I did it because I love you, son. You were the best thing in my world and I wasn't prepared to lose the only child I ever had, the only child I could ever want." – Cereza pours her heart out

Unfortunately Cereza's heartfelt words fell on Ren's deaf ears.

"You just don't get it do you? It's always about you and what YOU want. You think you did me any favors by erasing my memories and sending me away? Here's a good question, mom. Do you know what it's like to have no memory of who once were and wander around aimlessly like you don't exist? DO YOU?! You think you were protecting?" – Ren angrily grills his mother

Cereza hangs her head and instantly remembers the time when she was underwater for 500 years and woke up with no recollection of herself or her past. She could've easily have told Ren about it, but decides to let it go and take his cold hostility with dignity instead, fearing it would only make her son resent her more.

"Yeah…I didn't think so. You thought you were protecting me and when you and I would finally reunite, then everything would be better huh? Well how's that working out for you now?." – Ren finishes and heads back to the changing room

Ren changes back into his clothes and exits the bath house. Cereza, still in the bath, sighs and talks to herself

"Yes, son. I do know what it's like…" – She quietly says to herself

_10:00 PM_

Ren is in his night clothes and is already fast asleep, preparing for another trip into mementos tomorrow. Cereza is standing right next to him and Morgana both sleeping away. The tall woman kneels and places her hand on his cheek and kisses it. She thinks about what he said earlier in the bathhouse about her only thinking of herself when she gave him up to another family.

"Was he right all along? Was leaving him to another family just for my own benefit? Am I just...not fit to be a mother?" – the distraught woman thinks to herself

"My son, I'm well aware that it wasn't easy for you growing up without me, but understand that I was hurting without you too. What can I do…what can I do to make you forgive me?" – Cereza softly says to him

Cereza stands back up and is about to leave her son alone to sleep, until she hears Ren talking in his sleep. This was nothing surprising to her since this happened way back when he was a little boy, who would have his fair share of nightmares.

"_Please…don't go…_" – Ren says in his sleep

"Huh…son?" – She quietly says turning around seeing her son curling up

"_Please…momma…don't…let me go. I…need you._" – Ren continues with a breaking voice

Cereza kneels back down again proceeds to listen to her son talk in his sleep. It seemed as if Ren was having another dream about her

"…_Stay with me, momma._ _I'm sorry." – Ren_

Cereza places her palm on Ren's cheek once more and leans closer to his ear and whispers softly in it.

"Mummy will always be here with you, my darling son. I love you more than the moon and stars themselves, my dear sweet child." – She whispers quietly into her son's ear

She finishes with another kiss on his cheek and Ren finally retracts his body from curling up and is sleeping normally once again. Hearing the soft sound of his mother's voice made was able to settle down his anxiety and give him peace of mind. Cereza couldn't help but smile at her young man as seeing him finally sleep like that again made her think all the way back to Ren's birth. This wouldn't last very long as Cereza sense an immense amount of power coming from above Leblanc.

She quickly stands back up and climbs out of Ren's window and makes her way to the roof. While there, she sees a beam of light shining in front of her. Oddly enough, none of the other Yongen-Jaya residents notice the strange beam and just go on about their business as usual. Cereza, however, recognizes this strange power and widens her eyes upon remembering it.

This power was from Yaldabaoth. The god that granted Cereza's wish to make her pregnant in the first place. She puts her hands on her hips in displeasure, not very pleased to see the god during her current struggle with her son to win his love and acceptance back. Yaldabaoth doesn't make a full appearance, but instead, is using this beam of light to communicate with the witch.

"You certainly are making quite an entrance, but sorry, I don't have a red carpet for you." – Cereza smugly greets the god

"Silence..." – the god responded

"Witch of the Umbra, though it has been years since the last time you and I have spoke, I have not forgotten your end of the bargain." – the god continues

"Of course, I take it, you're here for debt collection. Bugger, honestly, you're no different than Enzo, back home." – Cereza says

"Precisely, witch. Your debt must be repaid. Tomorrow, I will await you at the highest point of this city and you will have what I desire." – Yaldabaoth demands

"And what is it that you wish for, oh mighty god?" – Cereza sarcastically asked

"What you have possessed for centuries…the very pride of the Umbra…the red stone of the Eyes of the World." – Yaldabaoth tells her

Cereza's eyes widen as she already knew what the god was talking about. The very red stone that was located in the Umbra watch that she herself wore and gave to Ren for his birthday. However, this was no easy debt to pay. Cereza knew about the red stone and how powerful it's properties were and by simply relinquishing such an almighty gem such as one of the Eyes of the World, it could be used to be to control the free will of humanity or if the user demands it, it could destroy the world. Cereza wasn't prepared to make such an impossible decision, knowing that it would put humanity, and most importantly, Ren, her only beloved child, in a seriously dangerous risk.

"What do you want with one of the Eyes of the World?" – the Witch asked

The god's voice grew louder this time shaking the witch as a sign of intimidation that he was not to be questioned so carelessly.

"A god of such omnipotence is under no such obligation to divulge thy intentions. You will retrieve the red stone and cede it to me come tomorrow's end. For if this debt is not paid by tomorrow's end, your consequences shall be dire, beginning with the soul of your son." – Yaldabaoth threatens

"Mind your tongue, god. Don't make threats I won't allow you follow through on." – Cereza responds griping one of her Love is Blue guns she made appear

"Heed me, witch of the Umbra. I will be waiting…" – Yaldabaoth's voice says fading away

Yaldabaoth's light disappears and Cereza is left wondering how she will be able to explain this her son while also facing the possibility of him finding out how he was _**truly **_born. She heads back into the coffee shop to ponder her next course of action.

_Saturday, March 30__th__, 20XX_

_4:00 PM (afternoon)_

_Mementos _

The Phantom Thieves are in Mementos finishing up, a request from the Phan-site. Joker, Queen, Panther, and Fox are battling a nasty shadow known as Archangel and it's a tough one at that. Queen, Panther, and Fox are almost down on health and spirit points, but Joker was still determined and his resolve was even stronger than the last time he was in the Metaverse. The strange power he had felt during his previous Palace heist was back and this time, it felt incredible. His fighting spirit, was unlike anything he felt before, as if he could take on an entire palace of shadows on his own.

"This strange power…coursing through me…heheheheh…now the real battle can begin!" – an overconfident Joker chuckles you himself clutching his gun tightly. Joker closes his eyes for a quick moment and once he opens them again, they turn purple and out of his left eye comes a flash of red essence. Queen is looking at Joker and is disturbed by this surprising increase of power.

"Um…Joker…are you…okay?" – Queen asked her leader

"Heheheh…don't worry about me. I'm just getting started! Now…IT'S SHOWTIME!" – Joker replies with a very sinister grin on his face

Joker places his hand on his mask and removes it calling forth his persona's name.

_**"ARRRSENE!"**_ – he yells summoning his signature persona

The tall red-well-dressed-black winged persona surrounded in blue aura heeded Joker's chant and appeared right behind him. The demon laughed as it towered over his master

"It would appear that you have gotten much stronger than before, boy! Excellent! Then let us bask in the joyful slaughter of our enemy!" – Arsene expresses his fierce sadistic personality

The blue flames that typically surround Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves whenever they summon their persona's started grew stronger. Joker was on the offensive and concentrated all of his focus on the knight winged shadow.

"RAVAGE THEM!" – Joker yells

Wasting no time at all, Arsene slams his hand with long claw-like nails to ground and performed his most powerful curse attack, Eigaon. The black and red curse attack was brutal and critical as it connected to the shadow flawlessly. Archangel was terribly weak to curse attacks, which caused him dizzy and unable to retaliate. Joker ceased this opportunity to use his Down Shot ability and as one could imagine, it landed successfully. Archangel realizes that he is leagues behind Joker's seemingly unstoppable power. The shadow then recuperates and floats towards Joker.

"Please…just stop it…I beg you…have mercy! H-here ju-just take all my money! Here…y-you can have…my Soul Drop as well!" – The winged shadow pleaded

"I don't want your worthless offerings…what I want…is to hear your desperately gasp for breath as you cling to life's end…" – Joker rejects the shadow's pathetic offer

The rest of the Phantom Thieves are staring at Joker and noticing his blatant sadism towards the angel, but aren't exactly fond of his newfound attitude.

"What the hell's happening to him? Dude's even more ruthless than before!" – Skull asked his team

"I concur, this is not Joker's normal behavior during missions. He's never acted this way before no matter how strong he's gets, he always acts composed. He's changed…and I don't think I approve of this change in personality." – Fox complains

"It's strange, but I feel as if this isn't the first time Joker's taken this approach before. During our last palace infiltration, he did show a higher-than-average amount of strength and resolve if I remember correctly." – Noir recalls

"I don't know what's going on, but I just did an analysis on his power and the results are completely off the charts! The readings are unfathomable it's like he's a whole different person!" – Oracle analyzes

Joker points his gun at the shadow's head and pulls the trigger with utmost force and continues the flurry of bullets until the clip empties. Archangel is defeated...he reverts back to the human he originally was. It was a middle aged balding man with glasses. He looks sad and utterly defeated.

"I…I just wanted her to love me. I know black mailing her was wrong, but it's just...she's such a beautiful woman, who deserves someone so nice and caring. I just thought that "someone" could be me. I see now that I was wrong and should've approached her honestly." – the middle aged man regrets

"Just get out of here…" – Joker commanded him

The man obeys Joker's order, and transforms into a shiny bud of treasure. Joker grabs the bud and begins to walk back to the Morgana cat to head back to the surface exit. During the ride back, it's silent and nobody is speaking. The shock and filling the cat car was disturbing, until Joker finally broke the silence.

"Is everybody alright? You guys haven't said a word since we started heading back." – a concerned Joker asks his team

"Listen, Ren…we've been noticing that you've been changing quite a lot recently…and-" – Panther pauses

"Annnnd…?" – Joker asks

"And we just hope you're feeling okay, dude. To be honest, you kind of went a little overboard on that last shadow." – Skull finishes for Panther

"I'm fine, guys really. You don't have to worry about me." – Joker assures his team

The interior becomes silent once again until the Phantom Thieves finally reach the surface again. Morgana transforms back into a cat again and breaks the team's silence.

"Good job today, Phantom Thieves! All the requests we've received last week are complete!" – Morgana congratulates his team

"I'm sooooooo exhausteeeed and starvinnnng! I need something saaaltyyy!" – Skull whined

"Would you quit your whining already?! We just got back to the exit." – Panther interjected

"I have to agree with Ryuji. I am quite famished myself. I'm sort've in the mood for some of boss's curry back at the coffee shop. Shall the rest of you partake with me?" – Fox suggested

"Sure. Why not?" – Queen accepts

"Mmmmm Sojiro's curry sounds soooooo good right about now!" – Oracle follows

"Alright, then. Lets head back." – Joker told his team

Joker presses the exit button on the Navigator app and the Phantom Thieves instantly return to reality.

_Saturday, March 30__th__, 20XX_

_8:00pm (evening)_

_Café Leblanc _

The Phantom Thieves are feasting on delicious plates of Sojiro's curry and celebrating another job well done in the Metaverse's Mementos. Makoto notices Ren sitting at the bar by himself, with his plate of curry untouched. She takes her plate and pulls up a chair next to him to sit with him. Ren doesn't pay attention to her as he is staring down at the bar counter thinking to himself. He looks as if he's thinking about his actions earlier in Mementos.

"_The way I battled today, it was the same from the last time at that palace, but this time…I was stronger…I was…more brutal and sadistic…and I enjoyed it. This isn't like me at all, I know I'm more composed than that. This couldn't be because of mom's powers could it? What's wrong with me? What am I becoming? Am I losing my humanity?" – _Ren contemplates his actions

Niijima delivers a very light karate chop to his frizzy head snapping him out of his trance. Ren is startled and straightens himself up. He looks at Makoto, who laughs at his jump scare.

"Are you feeling okay, Ren?" – Makoto asked chuckling

"Uh…yeah. I'm fine." – Ren responded laughing nervously

"You've been getting stronger each time we've gone into the Metaverse, someone's been hitting the gym lately have you?" – she asked

"Well I try my best." – Ren replied

"Being the leader does come with it's own set of expectations, so don't you think about slacking off on us, Joker." – Makoto tells her leader

"Of course, my Queen." – Ren flirtatiously responds making her blush and drop her spoon

"Wh-what'd you say?!" – She hesitantly asked Ren, who was now regretting his smug tease

"Um uh nothing!" – He answered while blushing

The gang is almost all but finished with their curry. Sojiro is closing up shop for the night and cleaning dishes, but one of them begin to notice someone missing, someone who's been present ever since Ren's birthday.

"Hey, Ren. Where's the beautiful Lady Cereza?! It's about time for my soothing head patting." – Morgana asked eager to be petted by his mother

"Yeah, dude, where is she. Come to think of it, she hasn't been here since we got back has she?" – Sakamoto asked

"I think she's still out grabbing coffee ingredients for me. She said she didn't want to stay here at the shop all day not doing anything so she insisted on doing so for me so I wouldn't have to leave the store." – Sojiro tells them

"I must say, Ren. Your mother is very thoughtful to help the boss with things around here. Her personality matches with her astonishing belle. I do hope that she stays long." – Haru said

"Yeah and she's so young and beautiful. For a tall woman, she's got so much going on." – Ann says looking down at her glass of soda envious of Cereza's beauty

"Hehe…what's wrong, mommy's got you jealous, miss top model?!" – Ryuji teases his friend

Ann snaps back up and gives him a rather powerful than normal karate chop to the back of his neck causing him to spit out some of his soda onto his pants.

"Shut up!" – Ann yells with her cheeks turning red

"Owww, what the hell?! Can't you take a joke?!" – Ryuji asked while rubbing his nape

"Sometimes, Ryuji, I wonder if you even think at all." – Makoto insulted him

"You know I gotta say, kid, your mother's been a real help with the shop and everything. I've been getting a lot of new regular's coming in everyday now. Whenever they see her through the door windows, they just waltz right in and order away! Honestly, Ren, you're pretty lucky to have such a beautiful charming mother." – the boss continues

Ren takes a displeasure hearing about his mother and how she's been unintentionally attracting more customers to Leblanc. Know how beautiful, yet raunchy Cereza can be, he wouldn't be surprised if all of the new customers Sojiro was receiving all happened to be thirsty middle aged men, married or not, or in the worst case scenario, teenaged males from Shujin, which would only generate nasty rumors and Ren knew that was the last thing he needed. Ren stares back down at his almost empty plate of curry and frowns.

"Yeah…aren't I just the luckiest?" – he sarcastically agrees

"Hey, kid you alright?" – Sojiro asked the frowning boy

"I'm fine." – Ren responds looking back up.

A bell rings as the shop door opens. It was Cereza walking through carrying a two big bags of coffee beans

"Oh, good evening, everyone! Sojiro, dear, I've got all the things you wanted. You'll just die when you see these stylish cups, it's Fine China." – Cereza says walking to the bar side

Sojiro almost spits out his drink as he is surprised to learn of Cereza splurging money on expensive tea cups.

"F-F-Fine China?! How did you afford all that?!" – Sojiro

"I guess I haven't explained my line of work, dear. I'm sort of in the bounty hunting business…" – Cereza reveals

"Heh! I'm sure! Thank you for getting the stuff I needed Ms. Cereza." – Sojiro chuckles not believing her at first

Cereza notices and looks at her son, who is still sipping his coffee and doesn't look at her back. She walks up to him and kisses his cheek leaving a noticeable red kiss mark on his cheek

"So, little one, did you enjoy playing with your and your friends while I was out doing errands today?" – Cereza asked him

"Mom, can you stop calling me "little one", for the last time, I'm not a kid anymore. How long are gonna keep doing that?" - Ren complains wiping the kiss mark off his cheek.

"Come now, Ren, don't be rude. I only say that because your still my son. You used to love it when your auntie and I called "little one" when you were much smaller.

"I think it's rather adorable that you care a great deal about your son to give him such a lovable pet name, miss Cereza." – Haru commends the beautiful mother

"I believe it's every parent's job to always show endless amounts of love to their children. They are the future that represents the parents and carry on their legacies." – Cereza gives her wisdom to the teens

"You're such an insightful mother, I could only wish I had such a mother like you." – Makoto compliments her

"Whatever do you mean, dear? Where are your parents?" – Cereza asked

"Both of my parents have passed away years ago, now it's just me and my older sister." – Niijima tells her showing an upset facial expression

"Oh my, my condolences, you poor thing." – Cereza consoles Makoto placing her hand on her shoulder

"I have also, lost a parent as well. My mother died from a seizure when I was 3. The man, who I once considered my art master and foster parent, allowed it to happened instead of helping her." – Yusuke joins in causing him to look down at his still full cup of coffee

"My mom died when I was a kid too, she was killed in a car accident after she suffered a mental shutdown. For a long time, I always thought she died because of me because I kept begging her to take us on a vacation and spend time with me." – Futaba also shares her lost feeling a bit down

"My father also passed away as well, he suffered a sudden heart attack, to be honest, he was a deplorable parent. He tried to force me into an arranged marriage for prophet gain, but none the less, he was still my father." – Haru shares gently putting her tea cup down as she closed her eyes

"I still got my mom, but my dad left us when I was still a kid. He was a nasty alcoholic and he would beat my mom and me until he finally walked out on us. Ever since then, I've been trying my best to get a Track Scholarship so she wouldn't have to pay for school and her life would be easier." – Ryuji adds in a low tone feeling gloomy

"My parents are fashion designers, they're in charge of setting up fashion shows in different countries, so they travel for work and I don't get to see them very often. Still though, it kinda sucks not having them around a lot, it gets very lonely sometimes." – Ann expresses

"My goodness! You poor children, you've been through so much…my son should be truly grateful to have you all as friends. You know, before I was pregnant with Ren, I use to hate dealing with kids, but after having him and meeting all of you, I feel like I've developed a soft spot for all of you. You're all so precious." – Cereza opens herself up to the teens

"Last week, when I mentioned to you all that I am a witch, well there's something I should add to that…I aware that I don't look like it, but the day my mother died, it was 500 years ago. During that time, the tragic witch hunts took place and eradicated all of my kind except for my best friend, who is also Ren's aunt and me. Our mortal enemies, the angels were the monsters responsible for my clan's decimation. They wanted were after a very important and dangerous gem that was located in the Umbra watch that I got from my mum, the same watch I gave to to you son." – Cereza explains her past to the teens while looking at Ren

"After my mother's death, I was sealed in a coffin under a lake for 500 years by my friend and awoken with no recollection of my memories. The reason why I was able to live for so long is because the Umbra watch is a powerful object that keeps the wearer from aging." – Cereza reveals

Everyone in the shop is shocked by this surprising revelation, the teens keep their eyes focused on Cereza. Ren feels lightheaded and rubs his forehead, he quickly remembers his dream about seeing his mother in the bottom of the lake.

"_Then that dream I had wasn't just a dream, it was real?!" – He contemplates _

"What?! Are you freakin serious?! That watch Ren got from you is like a mini fountain of youth?!" – a stunned Ryuji questions Ren's mother

"In terms of non aging, yes. It is true." – Cereza tells the blond boy

"Holy shit! Dude, you could live forever if you wanted! That's freakin' sweet, man! I'm so jealous!" – Ryuji says in envy

"Why did you give that to me mom?" – Ren asked her

"Because I want you to outlive me, son. I've lived in the world for long enough. I want you to enjoy life for as long as you want without consequences. You deserve it more than me. I know that I had to give you up at first, but at least let me make it up to you by giving you the best gift anyone could receive." – Cereza replies placing her hands on his shoulders

"It's not that simple, mom. It's not that simple!" – Ren says with anger in his eyes

Ren steps down from the bar stool and faces his mother

"You think giving me something that stops me from getting older would make us closer?! What do you think I look like, a charity?! You abandon me for 13 years and now that you're back, you give me some stupid watch that I didn't even want, in hopes that it would absolve you from any sort of responsibility you had in doing so?" – Ren relentlessly chastised her

"No, Ren. I know what I did, but I gave that watch to you because you are apart of my lineage. Believe it or not, you are an Umbra witch, the first male Umbra witch in centuries and with the necessary training, you'll be the strongest Umbra witch our clan has ever witnessed. I want you to surpass me because you are my son and I love you." – Cereza express her love for her child

"Would you stop it already?! Just stop! You'll just never get it will you?! Let me help you understand, being your son is the worst!" – Ren bursts out in anger

"Ren!" – Cereza says in utter disbelief

"Yeah...I said it! I hate being your son, you know why?! Not for the sole reason because you left me, but because of everything that came with it! First you abandon me for 13 years, you come back into my life telling me that I'm a witch, and worst of all, I suffer from nightmares and visions that I can't even get rid of! Don't you get it, mom! All of my pain, all of my agony comes from you! You did this to me! If you hadn't made that stupid wish to have me in first place, then none of this would've happened! Everything last ounce of affliction, discomfort and self mental torture I have right now is from you and your blatant selfishness! Everything you touch turns crumbles to ash and you take no responsibility for it!" – Ren cruelly castigates her

Cereza stands there in front of her enraged son as he mercilessly berates her. She's refuses to say a word. His friends are sitting there in silence watching their leader meltdown in anger like it was another episode on a tv show drama. Sojiro looks at Ren and shakes his head in disapproval of his criticism towards his mother.

"The fact that you're just standing there, not saying a word, validates everything I just said…I'm done holding it in…

…**I hate you and I wish I was never your son." **– Ren finishes his tirade and begins to walk upstairs

"Hey! Get back here, dammit! That was completely uncalled for! You get your ass down here and apologize to your mother!" – Sojiro demands in a fatherly tone

"It's fine, Sojiro…just…let him go." – Cereza said quietly

Cereza continues standing there watching him return to his room. She closes her eyes and sits on the bar stool next to the bar side.

"Miss Cereza, will you be okay?!" – Haru asked the seemingly depressed mother

Cereza turns around to face her with a forced smile.

"Don't worry about me, little one. I'll be okay." – Cereza tells her

"How dare he besmirch the honor of a innocent beautiful woman?! Why I outta go up there and make him regret that right now, that damn punk!" – an angry Morgana defends Cereza's honor

"Even though I understand why he's angry, that still don't make it right to just lash out at your own mother. Even my mom makes me mad at times, but still…I could never do that." – Sakamoto also defends Cereza

"Listen, guys. I sorry to put you out like this, but you all should head on home. I'll take care of this." – Sojiro suggests

"It's okay, we understand, thank you for the delicious curry and coffee tonight, boss. It was great." – Makoto thanks him for the meal

The gang gathers all of their belongings leaves the shop. Futaba takes Morgana with her back to her home to keep him from doing anything rash and foolish.

"Cereza, you alright?" – Sojiro asked the distraught mother

"I love that boy, Sojiro. I love him to death, but he's right about me. I fucked up our relationship and abandoned my only child under the guise of protection and now he hates me. All I can do now is, let him know how sorry I am, but even then, that won't be good enough." – Cereza expresses while she stands up from the barstool

"I'm going back to my hotel room. I don't know if I can come back to the shop tomorrow. I don't want Ren to be even angrier and make it worse." – she tells the shop owner

"Alright then. You just take it easy and try to feel better." – Sojiro instructs her

Cereza grabs her purse and walks out of the store. Meanwhile, Sojiro looks up stairs with an angrier than usual look on his face as he begins to walk up there ready to give Ren a stern lecture. One that he should've heard a week ago ever since his mother returned. He makes it up to the attic to see Ren still in his day close sitting in his bed looking at his Umbra watch. He takes a deep breathes and opens his mouth.

"Hey you! I need to talk to you and if you have any hopes of staying under this roof any long, you'll sit up, look at me, and listen when I'm talking to you!" – Sojiro angrily demanded Ren

"What is it?" – Ren rhetorically asked

"Don't give me that bullshit! You know what I'm talking about! What you did down there was beyond disrespectful and ungrateful to the highest degree! Everyone down there was talking about how they all lost their parents meanwhile you got a mother standing right there next to you praising the fact that you're her son and what do you do? You spit back right her face!" – Sojiro scolds him

"You need to grow up. You act like you're the only one out of everyone who has suffered the most, but you know what, I believe that Kitagawa, Niijima, and even Futaba, would tell you all the pain they had to go through recovering from their parents' deaths. Even Sakamato has his mother to this day, but I'm certain he would tell you how much it hurts knowing that his own father abused and left them, and don't get me started on Haru's father, the same man who tried to sell her out to the highest bidder, to gain an extra buck! You know, kid, I get that it's not easy going through what you went through, your mom isn't the best mother, but do you know why I respect her so much, it's because even after she had to sacrifice her relationship with her own son, she still came back and tried to reconnect with you even she could've easily up and forgot about you. She is trying damndest to get you to forgive and love her again because she cannot like any other parent, cannot bare the thought of losing her only son, anymore than she thought she did." – Sojiro reprimands him

Ren takes another look at the Umbra watch and soon looks back up at him.

"You sit there thinking you're better than her because she left you, but yet here you are, the good guy wallowing in resentment because your mom was pushed into a difficult situation that caused her to lose her only son. Ren, I get it, parents can be a hassle to deal with, but that's their job. Parents, the good ones at least, are ones that will never give up on their children no matter bad life gets. Ren, I'm not gonna force you out of here if you don't forgive her, but you can best believe that you'll lose something more than precious and valuable if you don't. For the sake of you and your mother, stop this childish pity party, forgive your mother and fix what she's been trying to fix for a long time because believe it or not, you are incredibly lucky to have such a parent that would put their life in the line for you, while your friends could only wish the same." – Sojiro ends his stern lecture

Ren stares at Sojiro in silence then looks back down at the watch

"That's all I gotta say, kid. I'm leaving for the night. Lock up when before you go to bed." – Sojiro said

Sojiro is gone and Ren locks the shop up. He heads back upstairs to changes into his night clothes to get ready for another night of sleep, but before he does so, he notices the picture of Cereza and him as a baby. He picks it up and the Umbra watch and heads to bed. He takes a long look at it and remnants of his memories begin to clutter all at once. One of them being a little hazy, but he could visualize the evocation and can hear his mother's and another woman's voice loud and clear.

"_Cereza, Hurry! They're almost-" – the random woman alerted his mother_

His memory was choppy, but the voices were clear. He was remembering a dreadful day. The day he thought he would never want to remember. He could see his mother carrying him while crying.

"Momma! What's happening?!" – child Ren asked panicking

"_Ren…I'm so sorry, but plea-" His mother cried apologizing but was cut off_

"_I'm do- this- to protect you, s-! I lov- you so mu-, my dear sweet chi-! Please go and li-! For m-" — His mother was cut off before she can finish_

Ren finishes his trip down a tragic memory lane and opens his eyes again. He takes another look at the Umbra watch and this time, he wears it around his neck. Not even he knew why he finally decided to wear it, but he felt like he just had to wear it for some reason, like it was his destiny to. He starts getting drowsy and soon falls asleep. The red gem known as the Left Eye of the World begins to glow for a brief moment.

**An hour later**

Ren is still asleep, but as he turns his head, he feels something other than his pillow. His hand moves to wipe his eye, but it is stopped for some reason. He slowly opens his eyes to a bright blue light up above, but the light is then slowly covered by a woman's face, who is kneeling with Ren's head softly resting on her legs. The woman was holding Ren's hand and her other hand on his stomach. Ren, though lying down on the woman's legs, thoroughly inspected around the area. The room was all surrounded in a navy blue atmosphere, similar to the Velvet Room. Ren felt like he was in the ocean floor, without drowning. There were particles floating around all over the place and ancient text floating up in different spaces of the room. Ren finally stops observing the area and takes a look at the person who was holding him similarly to the way his mother would. She was a vey woman dressed in long black dress with red and gold accents with a hood covering her beehive like hair. The dress was also sporting chains with loose belts around her limbs. The dress also features a cloak that's split into two and the sleeves around her wrists and feet resemble the curves of a bat wing. What was most noticeable about this woman, was that she wore a butterfly mask and Ren was no stranger to this accessory either for he had once seen it in his dream about his mother in the bottom of the lake. The frizzy haired boy sits up and to get a much better look at the woman, who was smiling at him as if she had already met him before. The woman chuckles at him.

"It has been quite a long time hasn't it, my dear boy?" – the woman with a familiar voice said

"M-mom…is that you?!" – Ren confuses her for his mother

The woman's eyes widen then soon laughs at Ren's confusion for he could not be any more wrong.

"Silly little one, I know I look and sound like Cereza, but I'm afraid you're mistaken. Although, she does take after me more than my dear Balder after all, so I suppose it's perfectly understandable why one would confuse me for her. Speaking of dominant genes, you seem to take quite a lot after her as well, little one. Your eyes, your hair and you're quite tall like her to boot and I see that she's given you the watch too." – the woman said observing Ren

"Wait, you just said "Cereza", so then you know my mom? How is that possible?" – Ren asked the woman

"My dear boy, I course I know her and I certainly know you as well…

…

…She is my daughter." – She discloses

Ren is filled with surprise and shock, learning that the woman standing before him is Cereza's late mother.

"Then…that means your my…" – Ren hesitantly says

"That is correct, my dear grandson. I am your grandmummy, Rosa." – She finishes it for him and smiles brightly

Rosa pulls her grandson closer and hugs him after so long. This is not the first time the two have met, she was hoping that he would remember when they first met at the garden when Ren was looking for a blue rose for Cereza for Mother's Day. Luckily for here, the memories were all coming back to him. He didn't know to feel at this revelation other than being surprised.

"So then…that woman I was with in that forest looking for that rose, that was you, Grandma?" – Ren asked his grandmother

"Yes! It was! My sweet grandchild, it feels rejuvenating to know that you remembered!" – Grandma Rosa overjoyed at her grandson

"Why did you bring me here? Where even are we?" – Ren asked

"To tell you the truth, Grandson, I don't know myself, but I can tell you that I brought you here for a purpose. You are here because I want you come with me to centuries into the past. You must learn of Cereza's, your mother's upbringing, not to influence you to forgive her, but to make you understand who she truly is and why she loves you very much." – Rosa informs him

"Wait what? How exactly can you travel back in time? – Ren asked confusingly

"When you have gained the experience that I have from centuries of training, my grandson, anything you dream of doing can become reality." – Grandma Rosa chuckles

"_She must be as powerful as mom then, even more if she knows how to do that." – Ren thought to himself _

Rosa takes her grandson's hand and uses the power of her new Umbra watch to create a time portal. The portal was bright with blinding light that didn't phase the grandmother at all, but Ren had his eyes tightly shut and turned his head away from it.

"Don't be nervous, my grandchild. Our journey begins now. Try not to feel sick on the way there." – Rosa playfully jokes with him

"I'll remember that…" – Ren responds

The two finally walk through the portal and on the other side was a place where Ren had never been to before it was a large and ancient as it was beautiful and scenic.

_Vigrid_

_December 19__th__, 1411_

Rosa and Ren go back centuries into the past to the vast city known as Vigrid. The birth place of Cereza and home to leagues of Umbra Witches.

It was a old yet very scenery cityscape filled with several large neighborhoods. Rosa is showing Ren around, telling him about her place of origin, even showing him the church where she and her late husband Balder got married and had Cereza.

"Grandma, where are we?" – Ren asked

"This is Vigrid, Ren. My home, the place where your mother, where I met the love of my life, and where my darling Cereza, your mother was born. That church over there, come with me, grandson." – She said pointing to the church

The two reach the church doors and instantly, they hear crying. Ren puts his head closer to the door and hears a baby crying. The crying was very loud and hysterical as if the baby was a newborn.

"Shall we go in, little one?" – Rosa offered

"Uh…I guess." – Ren agrees

Rosa takes his hands and opens the door, she sees the crying baby and the two people right next to it. It was the baby's parents, the mother was holding the crying child and was also crying herself, recovering from the pain of childbirth. The father was standing right next to her comforting the two. Rosa and Ren walk up to the altar to get a better look at Ren almost immediately recognizes the mother's face, it was a younger Rosa. She was wearing a black robe with her Umbra watch on her chest. She had light brown hair and wore her signature butterfly mask.

"That's you…and that man next to you must be…" – Ren pauses

"Your granddaddy, my beloved, Balder." – Rosa finishes

Balder was wearing a white robe lined with gold patterns and red, diamond-shaped patterns that extend into a chain of sorts near his legs and down his sides.

"If that's you two, then I can already guess who that baby is…my mom." – Ren says taking out the baby picture of Cereza and him

Ren spends a few seconds looking at his baby picture and baby Cereza then compared the two side by side. In case Ren ever had any doubts that he wasn't really her son, they were to surely vanish now.

"I looked just like her…" – Ren says

"Of course you did, little one." – Rosa agrees tussling his hair

This day was the happiest day of my life. Starting a family was always the dream I wanted to be a reality and for a while it was." – Rosa tells him

"What do you mean, "for a while it was."?" – Ren asked

Rosa lifts her hands and creates another time portal behind them.

"Come…" – Rosa offered taking his hand

The two through the portal once again

_Vigrid, 1411_

_A few days after Cereza's birth_

The grandmother and grandson both reappear out of the time portal and make it into a strange building. The place is a bit bright with the light shining from the stain glass windows and the area is filled with men and women in strange gold and white robes sporting same colored hats and dark purple dresses. This was the outpost of the Umbra Witches accompanied by also the Lumen Sages. The elderly woman standing before all of the witches and sages, wearing a long, black dress and cape with a crescent moon-shaped collar. A headdress covers a majority of the her head and face; purple gloves cover her hands. This woman was known as the leader of the Umbra, the Umbran Elder. The two people standing before her were none other than Rosa and Balder themselves.

"Where are we now? What is this place?" – Ren wondered

"Just look over there, grandchild. We, the Umbra Witches carry sacred laws and commandments most pure, so pure in fact that breaking one of them will most dire consequences. It was this day, days after your mummy's birth, that your granddaddy and I were banished from our respective clans for conceiving a child and that I was locked away for my actions…forever." – Rosa explains her past

"What?! Are you serious…all because you and grandpa fell in love and had mom? That's cruel!" – Ren asked in disgust

"_In your wickedness, you have broken the ancient commandments and crafted a bond with one of the light. Our laws are clear. They demand that you be eternally imprisoned. As for the impure child, she must be kept from the path of the dark arts forever." – the Umbran Elder harshly declared_

The witch and the sage were both taken away by their own clans and Rosa was left to take care of Cereza on her own while under imprisonment. Balder was exiled from his clan as well.

"Grandma, this is so hard to watch. You having to raise mom all on your own from a jail cell and losing grandpa all because of some stupid old fashioned tenet. It's just not fair and here I am thinking getting arrested for a crime I didn't commit was terrible, but seeing this first hand is just so tragic." – Ren sympathizes with his grandmother

"At the time, I knew the laws of our clan, but at the same time I do not regret my actions. Falling in love with Balder, giving birth to Cereza were the happiest moments of my existence and there is not a second of my life that I trade in for that at all, especially if it meant that my dear daughter would eventually grown up and give me a grandchild." – Rosa said feeling no lament for her sins against her clan

"If there is anybody you should be feeling sorry for, Ren, it's surely isn't me, but rather your own mother. Being banished and imprisoned for eternity was painful enough, but what your mother went through as a child was hell. Even more painful knowing that I couldn't do anything about it." – Rosa explains

"What happened to her when she was kid?" – Ren asked

Rosa takes his hand once again and creates a new time portal

"Come with me, little one and I'll show you." – Rosa instructed

The two make their way into the portal and go 4 years forward.

_Vigrid, 1415_

_City streets_

The two reappear out of the time portal near an outside fountain. Ren notices a little girl dressed in a pink gown with two black long braids that extends to her stomach. The girl was sitting on the edge of the fountain all by herself playing with a handmade ragdoll resembling a cat. The girl was smiling and didn't seem to notice the other little girls looking at her and talking about her. One of those girls being one with white hair wearing a red gown holding a similarly handmade kitty ragdoll behind her back.

"_She's so disgusting. Nobody even likes her." – one of the girls says_

The girl starts to look up from her doll and notices the girls talking about her.

"_Honestly, why would the elder even let her stay here? She's an absolute disgrace to our clan and a crybaby. I'm glad she's not gonna be a witch." – one of the other girls berate her_

Ren and Rosa watch in disgust as the bullies put down poor girl. She overhears the mean spirited girls and feels hurt by their words. The girls leave and the little girl is left in tears, but the white haired girl stays and goes over to the crying girl and shows her her own kitty ragdoll. The girl stops crying and looks up at the girl showing her her doll.

"_You have one too?" – the crying girl asked the white haired child_

"_Yeah, his name is "Charles". What's your's named?" – the white haired girl asked_

"_Cheshire." – the girl replies wiping her tears away_

"_My name is Jeanne? What's yours?" – the girl introduced herself _

"_C-Cereza…" – She introduced her_

"That's mom and auntie?! They look so young and small! – Ren asked

"Yes, you already knew Jeanne, Ren?" – She asked

Ren instantly remembers his auntie like it was yesterday. At first, she was reluctant to help her friend raising him seeing as she had a distaste for children, but realizing that this was Cereza's child and that she didn't want her only friend to struggle as a single mother, she was willing to make an exception. His relationship with Jeanne started off shaky, but over time, the two grew close and their bond became strong as it was with him and his mother's. Jeanne, like Cereza was very protective of Ren as a small child, sometimes to an overly degree. She kept him out of harms way at any chance. When she wasn't teaching high school or grading tests and homework, she was spending time with her nephew and formulating a special bond with him by playing with him or tickling him.

"She and mom lived together, she help take care of me whenever mom was away. She like was like my second mom, my best friend. Where she could she be now?" – Ren wondered

"You have such a caring family, grandson, both Cereza and Jeanne love you very much. They both did quite the tremendous job raising such a handsome and powerful boy." – Rosa

Ren halfway closes his eyes hangs his head.

"Unfortunately, I really can't say the same, grandma…"- Ren softly disagrees hanging his head

Grandma Rosa puts her hands on her grandson's shoulders

"Tell me, you and your mummy were both separated for a long time, yes? Do you still harbor that same love you've once carried for her?" – Rosa asked her partially depressed grandson

"I…I don't even know anymore, grandma. There's another side of me that wants to forgive her, but my second half just wants to make her feel the same pain and loneliness that I felt when she left me." – Ren opens himself up

"I know she's your daughter, but I'm just so angry and beaten up by what she did. When she came back, she tried to act like everything in the end worked out because we reunited, thinking that the ends justified the means, when the means only brought me pain and misery. Last year, I was arrested for assault because I protected a woman from an evil corrupt politician forcing himself on her and because of that, my world fell into one black hole after another. I got expelled from my high school, got forced out of my home, had to move to Tokyo and start a new school, where some abusive pedophilic volleyball coach had terrible rumors about me spread throughout the entire school, so I was instantly hated and feared by everyone." – Ren finishes expressing his sorrows

Rosa closes and crosses her arms around Ren's neck and hugs him from behind. Hearing that her grandson went through a similar upbringing like her daughter Cereza made her feel all the more sympathetic towards him. She kisses his forehead and turns him around to face her.

"My dear sweet grandchild, you've been though such a tragic painful life. I'm sorry that happened to you, you and my daughter both deserve so much more." – Rosa comforts him

"It's okay, grandma. I just wish mom would understand the pain that I feel, the despair that I've felt for so long when I was without her. Everything I went through, she wasn't there for me for any of it, so when she tries to ignore what she did and act like nothing ever happened, it hurts me. It hurts me so much, grandma." – Ren once again expresses his criticisms about his mother

"But little one, that's where you're wrong. You couldn't be any more incorrect. Your mummy, Cereza, she does know what you're going through. Even more than you have already felt. When she was a child, I did my best to raise her from my cell, but as the years had passed and Cereza had finally grown up…that was when her and I became separated…" – Rosa verbalized

"How did you two get separated?" – He asked

Rosa, after having her eyes closed for a brief moment, opens them again. She breaks her hug and creates another time portal to the day where she and Cereza had been split up.

"I must warn you, child. What you will see next will not be for the faint of heart. If you are to become apart of the Umbra lineage, then you must be willing to face any situation that will result in tragic and catastrophic events." – Rosa enlightens him

"Tragic and catastrophic? What's happening behind that portal?" – Ren asked pointing at the portal

"One of the worst days of your mother's life." – Rosa responded in a defeated tone

_Vigrid, 1436_

The two walk through the portal and return to the Umbra outpost and what Ren's sees next was an utter disaster. Corpses of Umbra Witches were all spread across the floor. Blood was spattered all over floor and painted on the walls of outpost. Even the Umbran Elder had fallen prey to this most disgusting bloodshed. There were all but two witches still alive one of them was a white haired woman with a red Umbran uniform and the other was wearing a black hooded uniform with a butterfly mask. There was no mistaking this on Ren's part, he knew those two were his mother and auntie 500 year ago, but he had never seen them before in this situation. Ren's mother was holding the body and hand of a soon to be dead-Umbra witch, who bears a striking resemblance to his grandmother Rosa. It was Rosa no doubt about it, and she unfortunately, had succumb to her injuries from battle and she was mere seconds away from death.

"_MUMMY! Mummy!" – Young adult Cereza desperately cries to her mother_

"Grandma, what's going on?! What happened here?! Isn't that you right there?! You look so beaten, like you're about to die!" – Ren rapidly asked his grandmother

"After the Clan Wars and the Umbra Witches emerge victorious, the dreaded witch hunts were initiated that ended in the Umbra's decimation. This was the day that my sweet child Cereza was separated from her dear mummy…forever." – Rosa explains her tragic end

"I remember now, mom mentioned it before that you died 500 years ago. Then this really is that same day. This is just horrific." – Ren highlights

Cereza is still crying at the death of her mother, and has completely lost he will to keep fighting. The angels that surrounded them are moving in closer to them about to take the red stone she had possessed, that Ren was also in possession of. It was the Left Eye of World, and the angels wanted it. However, Jeanne was not about to allow her friend fall victim to their desires and she retaliates by pulling out a special dagger.

"_Our treasured Left Eye will never fall into the hands of anyone else!" – Jeanne declared_

With a swift strike of her blade, she stabs Cereza in the chest to seal her within the stone along with her memories and decides to face the monsters on her own. Ren is surprised to see these events unfold and cannot comprehend this tragedy

"Auntie?! What is she doing?!" – Ren desperate for an answer

"Protecting our very last hope, grandson." – Rosa replies

Ren looks away and closes his eyes. Meanwhile, Rosa puts her hand on his should and create a new time portal.

"Come, grandson. Perhaps this new time shall brighten your eyes…" – Rosa suggests

"Where are we going now?" – He asked

"To that day. The one day where I wish with all of my heart and soul to be alive for this most gloriously beautiful moment." – Rosa said with utmost euphoric and happy energy

"Uh…grandma? Are you okay?" – confused Ren asked

Rosa takes Ren's hand and walks through the portal with him. Upon walking through, they hear a woman screaming in agony as if she was having something removed from her body. Ren was so startled by this painful sound that he put his one unoccupied hand on his ear and slightly tilted his head to cover his other ear with his shoulder. Rosa laughs at this and continues to walk through with him and soon they reach the end.

_New York City, 1999_

The two were at a bar, the place had navy blue lighting. The front bar side had a neon sign with the words "Gates of Hell" written on it. Rosa and Ren were at Rodin's Gates of Hell bar and he and Jeanne were both standing next to Cereza, who was lying on a hospital bed next to an IV and a heartbeat monitor. She was the woman screaming and from the sound of it, her pain was only growing more troublesome.

"What's happening to mom?! Is she okay?!" – Ren concerns for his mother

Rosa continues smiling and looks down at Ren.

"Why do you go over there…and see for yourself, grandson." – Rosa suggests

Rosa releases her grip from Ren's hand and he begins to walk over to his screaming mother. He fears that she is hurt severely, but soon sees that that wasn't the case at all because right when he moves closer to her, he sees her stomach moving downward. Cereza wasn't in the sort of severe pain that Ren thought she was, but she was in pain no less and it was labor pain. Cereza was giving birth to a baby. Rosa and Ren has gone back to the date of his birth.

"_That's the head! Rodin, get the towel ready!" – Jeanne demanded_

"_This is it, Cereza! Just one more big strong push! You can do this!" – Jeanne instructed encouraging her friend_

_Cereza increases her rapid breathing and prepares for the final push_

"_Alright, Bayonetta. On three, give it one big push! Ready?!" – Rodin also instructs_

"_One…two…THREE!" – Jeanne and Rodin both count down_

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" – Cereza with all her might pushes out her newborn baby_

"She's…she's having a baby…and it's me…this is day I was born!" – Ren discovering this revelation

Ren looks back at his grandmother, who was crying tears of joy witnessing the sight of her daughter having a child of her own.

"That is correct, my grandchild. Had I still been alive to this day, this would undoubtedly be one of the most joyfullest of days of my life. Watching my daughter, my dear sweet Cereza give birth to her own son and becoming a mummy, is all that a mother wants from her daughter!" – Rosa breaks down in more tears

Ren looks back at his mother who had just finished pushing out her child. She's lying her head back down trying to recover from the massive pain she was just in. Ren walks over to Rodin to get a closer look at his infant self, who was crying hysterically and flailing his tiny arms. Rodin gives the baby to Jeanne.

"_Cereza…it's a boy!" – Jeanne reveals_

She then gives the baby to Cereza and instantly falls in love with him. When he finally calms down and after a brief moment of silence, Jeanne asks what will the baby's name be.

"_What shall your name be, little one? Your name shall be something very natural and unique and shall not be forgotten…" – She pauses thinking of his name_

"_Ren…that's it. I like it. Ren." – She grants him smiling_

Baby Ren opens his eyes and looks at his new mother. He starts cooing and moving his arms. Cereza take his hand and playfully moves it back and forth. Jeanne and the others leave the two alone. Cereza takes another look at her new son and clears her throat.

"_Fly me to the moon_

_Let me play among the stars_

_Let me see what spring is like_

_On Jupiter and Mars_

_In other words, hold my hand_

_In other words, baby, kiss me_

_Fill my heart with song_

_and let me sing forever more_

_You are all I long for_

_All I worship and adore_

_In other words, please be true_

_In other words, I love youuuuuu." – She sang_

Ren eyes close after hearing his mother sing to him and slowly begins to sleep.

"_Mummy, loves you very much, Ren. Sweet dreams, my dear sweet child." – she embraced_

_her baby kissing his cheek_

"She seems…so happy. What happened to the both of us? We used to be so close and inseparable, so why did all of this have to happen? Mom, why did you have leave me with another family?" – Ren tragically contemplated

"Some times, events happen completely out of our power, grandson. What happened between you and your mummy was not your doing, therefore, you are not at fault. However, with your mother back in your life, you do have power to reconnect and rebuild the bond that was broken many years ago." – Rosa tells the upset boy

"Ren, would you like to go back to the day, where you and Cereza were both separated? If I take you there and you were to see what truly conspired that fateful day, would you be willing to understand your mother's actions?" – Rosa asked her grandson

"Yes…please. If there is any chance that I can finally have closure and get this off my back, then I'll take it. No matter how hard it hurts." – Ren prepares himself for another time jump

"Very well then, this will be our last jump through time. Be ready for what comes next, dear grandchild." – Rosa advises the boy

"Alright, I'm ready to go. I need to see what unfolded that day and why mom and I were torn apart. If what mom said was true, and she really did erase my memory, then it's time I found out why?" – Ren declares

As quickly as she could, Rosa creates one last time portal and the two walk through it for the last time. The two reappear in front of a house in night time. They both see Cereza and Jeanne holding Ren walking up to the house they were standing next to. Cereza is looking at Ren with tears overflowing from her eyes and falling onto her son's face.

"_Cereza, we're here. This is the home Rodin told us about, they should be here. It's time." – Jeanne says_

"_Jeanne…I don't know…if I can do this. He's my only son. My only child. I don't think I can give him up!" – Cereza breaks down to kneeling on one knee still holding Ren_

"_Cereza! I understand it's hard, but we have to do what's best for both him and the sake of Umbra's survival!" – Jeanne tries to reason with her_

"_FUCK! THE UMBRA'S SURVIVAL! THIS IS MY SON! I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO ME AS LONG MY ONLY CHILD GETS TO CONTINUE LIVING, I WILL SACRIFICE EVERYTHING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE IN THIS WORLD! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND?! YOU'VE NEVER HAD A CHILD, JEANNE! YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND!" – Cereza hysterically yells at her with tears pouring out of her_

"_YOU THINK I DON'T CARE ABOUT HIM?! DO YOU THINK I SPENT ALL THOSE DAYS BABYSITTING HIM, CHANGING HIS DIAPERS, AND PLAYING WITH HIM OUT OF OBLIGATION?! FUCK NO! SO DON'T EVER GIVE ME THAT SHIT! I LOVE THIS BOY MORE THAN YOU THINK! I WAS JUST AS MUCH AS HIS MOTHER AS MUCH AS YOU WERE!" — Jeanne returns the shouting towards Cereza in a broken tone_

"_I love Ren too, Cereza. To death and I…will sacrifice anything for him as long as it meant that he gets to live to see another day…but that is why we have to let him go, so that he can live to see another day." – a tearful Jeanne reasons with Cereza_

Cereza takes another look at her passed out son and more tears pour out and cause her to breaks down in despair. She hasn't cried this hard since the death of her mother Rosa. She and Ren have been together as a small family for only 4 years and she still had so much to give him before he would finally grow up and live on his own. As a mother, being forced to give up one's own child for the sake of the child's wellbeing was never easy and having to do so crushed Cereza's soul. Ren and Rosa are both standing there watching as the mother and auntie both come to terms with losing the one child they tried to protect and keep in their lives. Rosa keeps a stern look on her face while Ren keeps looking at his mother cradle his younger self. He moves in a bit closer to his mom. Upon doing so, 4 year old Ren awakens from hearing his mother and auntie yell each other. He slowly opens his eyes and notices his mom holding him and his auntie Jeanne next to her.

"Momma? Auntie? What happened? My head hurts really bad." – child Ren complained

Jeanne looks at Cereza and nods her head, signaling that she must do what she must do. Cereza faces her son once again. Ren puts his hand on his mother's moist cheek and feels her tears running down.

"_Mommy, why are you crying?" – he asked_

Cereza rubs her son's head and continues crying, trying to muster up the courage to tell her son that she is leaving him.

"_Ren,…I'm so sorry that it had to come to this, my baby. I never wanted it to come to this…, I spent so much time trying to give you the perfect life you deserved, but I just wasn't good enough to do so. What I'm about to do, will crush me to my core as as a mother. If there is a chance you and I will ever reconnect again, then I don't expect you to forgive me, but at the very least please understand that I'm only doing this to protect you." – Cereza tearfully explains _

"_Momma…what's happening?" – confused frightened child Ren asked _

"_Ren, my son. I love you. With every ounce of my heart and soul. You not remember from here on, but I will always love you…goodbye, my dear sweet child." – she finishes her tearful goodbye_

Cereza then gives the boy to Jeanne, who is also crying herself and puts her palm on Ren's head. She whispers in his ear before performing her magic.

"_Goodbye, Ren. Auntie loves you so much." – Jeanne gives him her tearful goodbye_

Ren's eyes soon fill with purple coloring and after 10 seconds he is once again passed out and unconscious like a rag doll. Cereza then places Ren's body on the front porch and knocks on the door as hard as she could. The two women walk away from the house without a trace and Cereza looks back one more time. The front door opens and out comes a woman with beige-blond long hair. She's wearing thick black-rimmed glasses which are rimless at the top, a black turtleneck sweater with vertical blue lines on the lower half, which is rolled up to show a bit of her forearms, black pants, a blue jeweled accessory around her waist, and finally black high heels. The woman instantly sees Ren's body on the porch ground and gasps.

"_Vincent! Vincent come downstairs! He's here! Her son is here!" – the woman called out to_

"_Katherine, I'm in the shower! What'd you say?!" – Vincent said from the bathroom_

"_I said he's here! The time must've come, he's outside lying on our porch." – Katherine yelled you him_

"_Really?! Well okay, bring him in!" – Vincent said_

Katherine picks up the boy's unconscious body and brings him into the house and instantly closes the front door.

Older Ren begins to show tears in his eyes realizing that his mother was right all along. She wasn't trying to get rid of him out of hate, she was trying to protect him. With the two far away from each other, Ren's powers wouldn't be strong enough to activate and lure the angels to him via his Umbra energy.

Rosa walks up to Ren and grabs hold of his shoulder. She lifts her hand into the air and immediately return themselves back to the blue realm where she first brought Ren. When they get back, Ren is kneeling on the floor and cries over his unjust resentment towards his mother.

"Are you alright, grandson?" – She asked her upset grandchild

"How can I be okay knowing what I did. All mom tried to do was protect me, she even tried to repair our lost bond and how did I repair her? I told her that I hated her and tossed her aside like everything she did for me was all in vain. This is all my fault, if I had just learned to control my powers and be a better son, mom and I would still be together, and now, even when she came back into my life, I pushed her out." – tear ridden Ren regrets his treatment towards his mother

Rosa moves closer to her grandson and hugs him.

"What have I done, Grandma Rosa, what have I done?! My own mother tried to keep me safe and I resented her for it! I'm…the worst son anyone could wish for…I don't deserve her or her powers…if I…was never born, she wouldn't have…gone through all of this and she'd still be happy." – Ren sobbed

Rosa lifts her grandson's face up and looks at her with a stern face.

"Stop that. Cease this self loathing at once, little one and stop blaming yourself. I already told you once before that you had no control of the situation so how can it be you at fault for this?!" – Rosa reminded him

"Ren, the **real **reason I brought you back in time was so that you not only see the pain and suffering your mother went through, but so that you can see that it wasn't you who caused this separation. Cereza gave you to another family because she thought she wasn't able to keep you safe from those dreaded angels, they tried to kill you multiple times in armies and it completely overwhelmed her and Jeanne. You must understand, little one that everyone makes mistakes, some worse than their previous ones, but that is why we become better than who we were before and correct our mistakes. Which is what Cereza is trying to do with you by being present in your life once more." – Rosa lectures him

"Ren, do you wish to know how you were really born?" – Rosa asked about to give Ren a shocking truth

"What? What do you mean?" – He replies

"13 years ago, your mother, Cereza, had the desire to become pregnant and have a child of her sole DNA. To do this, she had to seek out the assistance of a deity, a wicked god known as Yaldabaoth." – Rosa revealed

"A god? Yaldabaoth?" – Ren said softly

"Yes, a god. It was through this god's might and power that he was able to grant her wish and make her with child. In exchange for this wish, he demanded her to repay he debt he formed after granting it. Do you want to know what the payment for this debt was, Ren?" – Rosa asked him

Ren stares in confusion.

"…You're wearing it around your neck right now." – Rosa pointed out

"The Umbran Watch?! Why would Yaldabaoth want this?!" – Ren asked

"Because it's what's in the watch is what he truly wants. That red gem, the same one we saw when I took you back to the time of our clan's eradication, the "Left Eye of the World" is an all powerful gem, capable of granting it's wearer unspeakable godlike power enough to even destroy a planet." – Rosa explains the gem's properties

"And mom just gave this to me?! But why?" – Ren asked

"Because she believed that you would be a worthy successor as the new keeper of the Left Eye." – Rosa answered

"Ren, I cannot make you forgive your mother, but I must ask you a few questions. Do you now understand what your mother had to go through? What will you do now that you know your mother's history and her reasons for leaving you? And lastly, will you accept your powers and heritage as an Umbra Witch?" – Grandma Rosa asked her grandson

Ren takes a moment to process all of the questions he was just given and looks at his Umbran Watch one last time. He once again, for a quick moment, reminisces about his childhood with his mom and auntie. He snaps out of it and takes a deep breath. He makes a serious look at his Grandma.

"I understand now, why mom had suffered so much, why she had me in the first place, because she was trying to have a family that was taken from her 500 years ago, and as long as I'm her son, I'm her family. She wanted me to be her successor and carry on the Umbran pride, and as her son, and one of the last remaining of the clan…, I shall accept my heritage and hon my new powers…as the new Umbra Witch. I'm gonna go find mother and tell her…I'm sorry." – Ren officially declares

Rosa smiles upon hearing Ren's answers. She moves in closer and gives him a delicate wholesome hug and a kiss on his forehead. She looks back at her grandson, who's still showing that same serious expression on his face. She lightly taps his forehead and his eyes turns purple. In an instant, he discovers Cereza's location and then immediately startles.

"She's on a skyscraper in Shibuya?!" – Ren says

"Yes, it appears she has no intention of honoring her debt to the god, seeing as she didn't take your watch. You must hurry, grandson. Your dear mummy, my daughter could be in danger. This god is unlike any angel she has ever faced. Out of all she has fought, this one may prove to be most difficult." – Rosa explains

"I gotta help her! If this Yaldabaoth is as strong as you say, it may take more than one Umbra Witch to do it!" – Ren said determined to help his mother

Rosa makes another genuine smile and wipes a tear from her eye.

"My dear sweet grandchild, I am so proud of you…though our clan may be all but gone, I look into your eyes and I see the strength and the pride of the Umbra igniting within you! I am so happy that I got to see you again as a handsome young man. I wish there was more that I can say to you, but my time here with you has run out. It's time you depart as well, go and find your mother, she needs her son by her side. Go, my grandchild and defend your mother's honors and the Umbra name. As your grandmother, I will forever have faith in you." – Rosa bids him farewell

Rosa puts her hands on both sides of his face as he closes his eyes.

"I love you very much, Ren, my beautiful grandson. Goodbye." – Rosa tells him one last time before sending him back

"Goodbye, Grandma." – Ren says

_Sunday March 31__st__, 20XX_

_Leblanc _

_8:00 AM_

Ren jolts up from his long sleep. He quickly get's changed heads downstairs to gather the rest of the thieves. He's suddenly confronted by Morgana, who spent the night with Futaba and Sojiro.

"You have a lot of nerve coming down here like nothing's happened! Where do you get off treating women like the way you treat a woman like Lady Cereza like that, especially when she's your mother?!" – the cat scolded him

"Look I know I deserve that and a lot more from everyone else, but right now we need to get the team together and help her. Otherwise your "Lady Cereza" is going to die!" – Ren informs Morgana

"What?! What are you talking about? Where's Lady Cereza? Is she okay?" – he panics in concern for her

"Look I'll explain in the way, but right now, we need to get to Shibuya now! Mom's in danger and the Phantom Thieves need to be there for her! In the bag, cat!" – Ren says urgently while grabbing

**END OF CHAPTER 4 **

**Next Chapter, Chapter 5: The Phantom of the Umbra**


	6. Chapter 5: The Phantom of the Umbra

Chapter 5: The Phantom of the Umbra

Ren and Morgana have both assembled the Phantom Thieves to aid Cereza in what was about the be the fight of her life and unknowingly to Ren himself, the fight **for his existence**. Everyone's on the train headed to Shibuya while also planning to fight a god alongside Ren's mother. He confesses to them all that he wasn't born through normal means and that he was conceived through Cereza and her deal with Yaldabaoth.

"I don't understand, how exactly are we gonna to be able access the Metaverse and help Ren's mom at the same time? While we're in there, she'll still be out here in reality. She may be some witch with strong power, but she isn't a Metaverse user." – Makoto asked

"Luckily for us, I've figured it all out." – Morgana replies

"Figured what out?" – Ann questioned

"Remember our last infiltration mission and yesterday in Mementos? Ren was getting stronger and more powerful with each time we went in the Metaverse, and what was the secret to this sudden rise in strength you may ask? It's simple, like mother, like son. Ren's witch powers are increasing and they've gotten to the point where they can even manifest into the Metaverse." – the black cat enthusiastically explains

"Oh yeeeeeah, that's right! So that explains how he was going all apeshit in Mementos! So if he was able to bring his powers into Mementos then…" – Ryuji pauses

"…Then Miss Cereza should be able to crossover to the Metaverse with us!" – Haru carries on

"Correct! I don't really know anything about Ren's powers or his whole witch lineage for that matter, but I'm more than certain that Cereza is capable of doing such a thing. If you ask me, I have a feeling that this isn't her first time crossing over to different realities." – Morgana theorizes

"Take think that we'll have to fight a deity that had a hand in means of our leader's birth. It's all so bizarre. Shouldn't we assume that once this "Yaldabaoth" is defeat and destroyed, wouldn't that mean that all of his wishes will be undone, and by "wishes" I mean Ren?" – Yusuke theorizes

"In other words, Ren would die. Could that…actually happen?" – Ann wonders

"There's no telling what will happen once this is all over, but either way, I have to accept my fate. All this time, I've been unfair and ungrateful to my mom when all she wanted was for us to reconnect again. Everyone, I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday, my mom was warming up to all of you and you guys did the same, and I came in and just ruined it for everyone. If what Yusuke says is true, and I disappear along with Yaldabaoth, I'll be okay with it. My mom has been through enough pain already…so she deserves better, better than me." – Ren apologizes with his head hanged

Futaba moves next to Ren and smacks the back of his head.

"Don't be so quick to die, you idiot!" – Futaba scolds

"Just because you were an ungrateful brat doesn't mean your mom doesn't love you! She's still here, even now trying to protect you because she doesn't wanna lose her only child! When my mom died, I thought it was my fault and I wanted to die too, but I knew that even then, it wouldn't make her happy if she was still here because she still loved me! So don't be selfish and just throw your own life away because of how you treated you mom!" – Futaba displays her heartfelt expression

"The things you said yesterday were utterly repulsive, but you being concerned to help your mother shows that you didn't mean those things at all. If you really love your mother, then you should stand and fight by her side." – Haru states

"And you're ain't alone either, dude! We got your back. Sure we ain't like you and your mom, but at the end of the day, we're the Phantom Thie-" – Ryuji is interrupted by Ann's smack to his head

"Will you shut up, dammit?! This is a public train you know!" – Ann coldly reminds Ryuji to keep their identities secret

"Ah! Seriously, what the hell was that for?!"- Sakamoto exclaims

"What Ryuji's trying to say is, we're all in this together and no matter what happens, we're not gonna leave you to fight alone. Ren, we'll stand with you all the way to the end." – Makoto clarifies

"Thank you, guys. All of you, be focused and be ready. I'm not gonna sugarcoat this, but out of everyone shadow we've ever fought, if you can even call this a shadow at all, Yaldabaoth is gonna be the fiercest. Give it your all and don't hold anything back. With any hope, my witch powers will activate again and it should give us an advantage." – Ren explains

"Alright! In that case, I'm gonna bust loose!"- euphoric Ryuji says standing up clutching his fist

"Do I really need to explain to you how "wrong" that just sounded, Ryuji?" – Makoto facepalmed

The gang laughs as Ryuji sits back down blushing in embarrassment

**Half an hour later**

_On the roof of a Tokyo Skyscraper_

Cereza is standing on the roof of the same skyscraper that Yaldabaoth demanded she proceed to to complete the debt. Cereza is fully armed with her 4 Love is Blue guns and Shuraba katana. She had an ultimatum, either surrender the god the Left Eye of the World to the god or risk Ren's soul being taken back for refusal to do so. If she went with first option, than she'd be risking the entire world including Ren possibly being under his control, and selling out her own child was never on her mind. Cereza, in her own mind, knew Ren was not about to forgive her, but like any good parent would, she was prepared to sacrifice herself to keep her son safe. If she were fall in this upcoming battle than at least her son would have a chance to grow his Umbra powers and become strong enough to fight the god himself.

_The roof floor shakes as it moves. She is surprised and shaken by this sudden movement in structure. She was expecting a large beam of light to appear I front of her, but this wasn't the case…this whole time while she was waiting for the God of Control to arrive, the God of Control was underneath her the entire time! YALDABAOTH HAS APPEARED!_

"So, you have arrived it seems, Umbra Witch. I assume you have made the provision of my red stone?" – Yaldabaoth asks

"Answer my question first, why are you so keen on the Left Eye so much? What do you intend to do with it should you have it?" – Cereza demands

"Your concern for my intentions with the Left Eye of the World is of no importance to your debt. Shall I remind you of your draw back shall you go back on our deal?" – Yaldabaoth dismisses

"That red stone is the very pride and treasure of the Umbra Witches, someone of your wickedness would only pervert it's properties. You want it simply because you want to more control over humans than you already have. Am I correct?" – Cereza predicts

Yaldabaoth is impressed by Cereza's wit and decides to confess his purpose for the Left Eye.

"World order…that is the purpose of my being. For centuries aging back to the rise of man, humanity has been enslaved by the cognitions of their own desire, I am a god created by humanity to serve as their administrator to grant said desires and give life to their voices, but with that, comes worldwide demise. If left unchecked, humanity would turn progress backwards and the balance of society would force them into chaos. That is why I, the God of Control, was created. I am to govern humanity and control their free wills and grant their desires to keep them on the righteous path that will lead humanity to a brighter future. It's it thy jurisdiction to keep them in line and rule over the masses. Allowing such free will into the hands of individuals such as humans, would only lead to destruction, therefore, I shall be their guide." – Yaldabaoth monologues

"You, Umbra Witch, are the example of what I speak. You demanded that I grant your desire to become pregnant and in doing so, I gave you what you wished and now you intend to defy order by choosing to not honor your end of the debt…those who defy order will be punished!" – Yaldabaoth continues

Cereza pulls out her guns and takes her battle stance.

"I deny world order when it's that same order that would make the world a horrible place to live in. You know, before all this, before having a son and becoming a parent, I never truly once cared for others. I'd normally view anyone who isn't on the same level of power as me as weaklings, but when I finally had my baby, that beautiful happy frizzy haired boy, I realized that I was wrong. Human life is precious, it's precious to my Ren, so it's precious to me. And if defying god's rule means that he can live freely without being under the heel of some false god thinking he can just control people on a whim, then I'm one big sinner!" – Cereza expresses

"Foolish and defiant to the end, as the God of Control and the administrator of humanity's desires, YOU SHALL PERISH!" – the god declares

Yaldabaoth lifts his hands up into the sky and casts a giant flare of light and out of it comes an entire legion of Cereza's and the Umbra witches sworn enemies…the Angels of Paradiso. Leagues of Affinity, Temperantia, Beloved, Fortitudo, etc. were descending from the light.

Bayonetta, undeterred from the oncoming uphill battle, fires her first shot at the army. The angels land on the platform and began their attacks, Bayonetta jumps and dodges as she counters her monstrous angelic adversaries. She summons the fists of her demonic ally, Madama Butterfly and in a flash Bayonetta launches a barrage of fistful blows towards the angels and in no time at all, she claims victory of the first wave. Bodies of dead angels disappear right before her as she smirks her basks in her victorious moment.

"So, you've made a deal with those ugly halo toting mongrels have you? No surprises on my end, darling. The desperate ones are usually the first to scrape the bottom of the barrel, but I suppose I'll give you an A for effort." – Bayonetta taunts Yaldabaoth

"You are truly an Umbra witch, you slaughtered them with out even so much as a scratch, but that was only the first wave. I wonder how long you can continue this farce without succumbing to exhaustion, witch." – Yaldabaoth wonders

"Bring it." – Bayonetta said standing tall

Yaldabaoth summons another wave of angels and Bayonetta once again continues the fight…

_At the front of the Tokyo skyscraper_

Ren and the rest of the Phantom Thieves have finally arrived at the building where Cereza is currently doing battle with Yaldabaoth and the angels.

"Alright, everyone ready?!" – Ren asked his team

"Where all here and ready to fight. Now, let's go help Lady Cereza!" – Morgana said readying to help his fair lady

"You sure she's up top on the roof?" – Ryuji asks

"100% positive, my powers are sensing her presence on top of that building…fighting." – Ren informs them

"Okay, activating the NAV now!" – Futaba says launching the navigator app

_**Commencing transport to Metaverse now.**_

_In the Metaverse_

In seconds the Phantom Thieves are in the Metaverse, geared up and ready to battle. Joker's Umbra watch is glowing bright red, brighter than it was last night.

"Hey, dude isn't that your watch? Why's it glowing?" – Skull notices

"I don't know, but the important thing now is to find and help my mom. Now we just need to figure a way how to get up top." – Ren replies

"Leave it all me! Now everyone stand back!" – Morgana orders

The Thieves stand back and watch the thief cat work his magic.

"Morganaaaaa…TRANSFOOOORM!" – Morgana chants

In a few seconds, Morgana transforms into his newest form of transportation, a helicopter.

"Wha-what! You could do that?!" – Ann asked in surprise

"Yep! You like it's Lady Ann? You could say, my training in mementos has paid off!" – Smug Morgana boasts

"And just where that hell was this the whole time?! You've been holding out on all along, us ya damn cat!" – Skull demands to know

"*Siiiigh* Of course, only a clueless scatter brain like you wouldn't listen to what I just said…" – Morgana shames the clueless blonde

"A helicopter…this should get us up to the roof in 5 minutes without delay. We'd all better hurry and find Miss Cereza. I'm sure she's strong, but against a god, she'll need all the help she'll get." – Noir stated

Ren looked up at the tall skyscraper towering front of him and his team and clutches his Umbra watch tightly.

"_Mom…I said something horrible to you last night that never should've been said. If I hadn't been so selfish and saw from your point of view at how much you were suffering without me as I was without you, you probably wouldn't be the one fighting for me now. I promise you, mother, I'm coming and this time…, I'll be the one that protects you." – Ren self declares _

"Alright, everyone, lets go!" – Queen orders

"Yes, let us proceed with the mission." – Fox adds

After a few seconds the Phantom Thieves all aboard Morgana and the cat helicopter speedily lifts off the ground and ascends to the top of the building. Morgana didn't let up for a minute and focused on their main objective. The team hang to whatever they could so they wouldn't accidentally fall out of the copter.

**10 minutes later**

_On the roof of the Tokyo Skyscraper_

Bayonetta is still battling waves of angels and the tides were not conceding one bit. Unfortunately for her, it seemed that her strength was weakening with each passing wave. She didn't know what exactly was happening to her power, but she knew couldn't allow her to stand down and surrender, for doing so would mean putting Ren's existence at risk. She kills the last angel in the current group and kneels in exhaustion. She starts heavily breathing and her vision loses sight and perception.

"What…is this…what's happening to me…?" – She desperately wonders

"Hahahahahaha…you fool! Did you honestly believe that the angels you witches so carelessly battle were just merely a warm up?! The angels that I summoned were ones of my own making!" – Yaldabaoth ridicules the witch mother

"What…are you talking about?!" – Cereza questioned

"You see, there is a reason I am quite familiar with the Umbra Witches as well as their history with the Angels of Paradiso, the Luman Sages, and the Eyes of the World..." – Yaldabaoth continues

"Bullshit…how do you know about them…?" – Cereza disbelieves him

"I am not only the god of creation, I…am the son…of the creator, _Jubileus!" – Yaldabaoth reveals_

Cereza widens her eyes to this unbelievably shocking revelation. She tries to stand to regain her composure and focus.

"That's a lie…that's a fucking lie!" – Cereza calls the god's bluff

"There is no denying the truth of reality. The creator known as Jubileus was my mother…in her last dying moments, she created me with her light." – He explained

"But earlier you said that you were created by humanity's desire to be the controller of their free will. How the hell can you be the her son?" – Cereza questions

"Correct, however, when I was created, I was but a mere small light. Humanity's desires and need to be governed is what gave me growth. For centuries, I was being brought up simply from their wishes, their deepest desires. Humanity's selfishness, their wickedness, their yearning for dominion over others through tyrannical means, were the basis of my upbringing. My mother, Jubileus was to be reawaken and control humanity free will, but after she was defeated and destroyed by you wretched defiant witches, therefore, I took it upon myself to inherit her purpose and fulfill her destiny." – Yaldabaoth explains his relation to Jubileus

"So…this whole time…you weren't really a god, your just another angel that can grant wishes. Fan-bloody-fucking-tastic. So your evil bitch of a mummy couldn't even take a beating so she died and gave you a quick pitiful birth. I can only imagine how painful the labor was." – Cereza mocks despite her current condition

"Make all of the cheap provocations if you want, witch, but in the end, I will fulfill the wish of my mother, her glory will become my ultimate achievement. Now, Umbra witch, you shall be purged then your son shall be next! Now…DIE!" – Yaldabaoth claims preparing his killing blow

Cereza raises her guard in preparation for the god's final attack, but right before he could commence the attack, a black helicopter appears from above. It was the Phantom Thieves in the Morgana-copter and Joker was standing with his body halfway out of the cockpit. He glared at Yaldabaoth who returns a stare himself. Joker jumps out of the cockpit by himself and lands perfectly on the platform like a superhero ready to come to someone's aid. He pulls out his gun and points it at the god with extreme prejudice.

"Get the hell away from my mom, you fake god piece of shit!" – Phantom Thief leader demanded

"Ren?! Is that you, dear? And what in devil's name are you wearing, son?" – Cereza asked seeing her son in his Phantom costume for the first time.

"Hi, mom…" – Ren greeted

The Morgana-copter lands and the rest of the Phantom Thieves jump out of the copter while Morgana turns back into his phantom form.

"Everyone?! You're all here too?!" – surprised Cereza asked

"Lady Cereza, the Phantom Thieves have come to your aid!" – Morgana said cornily

"Phantom what? Ren what is this what's going on?" – Cereza said confused

"Mom, I'll explain later, but right now, we have more important matters to finish." – Ren diverts his mother's concerns

"So…you've finally appeared have you, trickster?" – Yaldabaoth asked rhetorically

"So you're Yaldabaoth, the person made my mom pregnant? The reason I exist…I'm kinda glad I don't have a blood father, otherwise, I'd disown you now. Besides, vile scum like you have no business being with someone as kind as my mother." – Ren berates the god

"Ren…what did you just say?" – Cereza asked surprised by her son's words of praise towards her

Ren shifts his mask to his forehead as he turns to his mother and begins to walk up to her. He stares at her for a quick moment and reimagines himself seeing her for the first time as a baby.

"Momma…" – He says softly before moving in for a hug

Ren lifts himself as high as he could and wraps his arms around Cereza hugging her tightly. A small tear falls from his cheek and quickly wipes it off.

"I'm so sorry, momma…you just wanted to be back in my life and I pushed you away at every turn, but no more. I love you and I want my mom back." – Ren apologizes in a slightly breaking tone

Cereza also shows tears herself and smiles brightly as she finally heard the words she wanted to her for so long from her own child. She returns the hug and kisses her son's cheek.

"Oh…my son…my dear sweet child! You don't have to apologize to me, I caused you so much pain and I tried to act like it never happened, but I only did it because I wanted to be back with you. Still, it's that's no excuse for a mother to abandon her own child. Ren, I'm going to make it up to you for all of the lost years and protect my child here and now." – Cereza declares

"No, mom. Not this time. For so long, you and auntie Jeanne have protected me from danger and I've had to rely on you to stay safe, but I'm not letting you fight for me anymore. This time, momma…I'm the one who will fight for you." – Ren rejects his mother's protective nature

"Ren…" – she says softly

"Foolish beings! You have disrupted my divine rule for the last time! All sinners must be severely punished!" – Yaldabaoth claims in anger

"Can…we really take on something like that?" – Queen questions

"Yeah, not to doubt us or anything, but do we really have the strength to take on a literally god?!" – Panther panics

"Yaldabaoth's power is on a completely different scale, it's so huge it needs it own area code!" – Oracle analyzd

"Guys, keep it together!" – Skull defuses the panicking

"Ryuji's right! Everyone stay calm and focus! We're at the point of no return here, if we falter now and doubt ourselves, then we've already lost before we even executed the first attack!" – Morgana encourages

"This will be our biggest show ever! The Phantom Thieves vs a god! Together we'll take the world!" – Morgana declares

"Mona's right, I did not come this far just to run away! I came to help a friend and his mother in need and that is what I aim to accomplish!" – Fox adds

"Correct! We are the Phantom Thieves of Hearts and no matter the task, we always get it done!" – Noir joins in

"Yes, as a the leader of the Phantom Thieves and newest and one of the last remaining members of the Umbra Witches, we will put an end to you and your rule!" – Joker declares

"Pathetic bravado will only lead you to defeat. You defiant humans will fall here…now perish!" – Yaldabaoth says

"Mom…you fought enough, now stand back and rest." – Ren orders his mother

"Son…hold nothing back and kick his ass for mummy!" – Cereza motivates him

"You got it, mom!" - Ren replies

"This guy's is strength is no joke, any hesitation could have seriously bad results, but we're all together. We can win!" – Oracle claims

Ren makes the first move and summons the persona, Black Frost and activates Rakunda to lower the god's defense. Ryuji follows this up with Seiten Taisei's Matarukaja and to boosts his team's attack strength. Morgana calls forth Mercurius to activate Masukunda to lower Yaldabaoth's accuracy and evasion, then Makoto uses Anat's Marakukaja's ability to increase the team's defense.

Yaldabaoth moves onto the offensive and uses his Arrows of Light to attack Mona, but his accuracy causes him to fail to make the attack connect.

"Black Frost! Diamond Dust!" – Joker shouts

Black Frost activates his most powerful ice ability and to deal a massive freezing damage to Yaldabaoth and though it connect, it was going take more than ice to defeat him. Ryuji cross his arms in front of his face to summon Seiten Taisei.

"Personaaaaa!" – Skull shouts

"Charge me up!" – he yells

Seiten Taisen charged his master up to allow him to deal more physical damage.

"Come forth, my other self!" – Mona shouts

"Hit him with Garudyne, Mercurius!" – the cat ordered

The attack was successful, but the god still stood.

Queen moves in for her own attack and calls forth Anat!

"Anat! Use Freidyne!" – She commanded

Anat deals nuclear damage to Yaldabaoth and its enough to chip away at the god's health and the Thieves end it with a decent cut at Yaldabaoth's health, they all look confident to beat him, but this was only beginning.

"I release upon you the deadly sin of lust! You have no means of escape, humans. The insanity of mankind shall bring forth demise…" – Yaldabaoth says pulls out a gun

"This is Distorted Lust!" – he says

The attack hits Makoto, damaging her and inflicting her with lust.

"What is this attack? One of mankind's deadly sins?! Don't let your guard down until we know what it does!" – Morgana ordered

Joker once again uses Diamond Dust on Yaldabaoth and the attack connects, Queen tries to summon Anat, but to no avail. It seemed that she isn't able to move due to Yaldabaoth's Distorted Lust.

"What's wrong with me…why can't I move?!" – She panically wondered

"I release upon you the deadly sin of vanity! You have no means of escape, humans. The fraudulence of mankind shall bring forth ruin!" – Yaldabaoth declares pulling out a bell

"Everyone be careful! It may be a bell, but there's no telling what'll happen!" – Morgan warns the team

"Distorted Vanity!" – the god shouts

Makoto is once again hit and is now weak to all affinities.

"You damn son of a bitch! You'll pay! Come on, Seiten! Ziodyne!" – Skull shouts summoning his persona

"Goemon, strike!" – Yusuke summons Goemon and attacks with Bufudyne

This attack proves fruitless as it misses the god making him laugh.

"Pathetic peon, is that really the best effort you can muster?!" – he mocked

"No, but here's my effort! Mediarahan!" – Morgana yells

Mercurius uses his skill to heal the teams

"Thanks, Mona! Now it's my turn!" – Makoto yells

"Persona! Freidyne!" – she commands

And the massive nuclear attack connects hitting Yaldabaoth's chest. Yaldabaoth uses it's other arm to pull out another deadly sin of mankind. Noir summons Milady and attacks with Psiodyne!

"I release upon you the deadly sin of gluttony! You have no means of escape, humans. The selfishness of mankind shall bring forth ruin." – Yaldabaoth declares pulling out a blade

"I condemn you with Distorted Gluttony! – He yells

This skill causes the team to use more spirit to summon their personas.

"Everyone be careful! His attacks are a lot stronger this time!" – Morgana warns

"Sword of Judgement!" – the god attacks but fails to connect

"Wind Cutter!" – he attacks once more but hitting Ryuji instead

"Skull are you okay?!" – Oracle asks

"Yeah, but this son of a bitch didn't finish me yet!" – Skull recovers

"I release upon you the deadly sin of wrath! You have no means of escape, humans. The passion of mankind shall bring forth ruin!" – the god says summoning a book

"It's a book this time watch out!" – Oracle says

Oracle's warning comes too late as Yaldabaoth attacks Morgana with Distorted Wrath damaging him and causing him to feel rage.

"Oh no, Mona you have to calm down!" – Ryuji says

"I release upon you the deadly sin of greed! You have no means of escape, humans. The fixation of mankind shall bring forth ruin!" – Yaldabaoth declares

"Distorted Avarice!" – he yells hitting Joker with it

The attack was strong enough to make Joker hungry, but he stands tall against the hunger and uses Arsene to attack with Eigaon and it hits the god in the chest. Morgana then attacks with Garudyne also hitting him in the chest as well. Panther comes in and attacks with Agidyne.

"I release upon you with the deadly sin of pride! You have no means of escape, humans. The ingratitude of mankind shall bring forth ruin…" – Yaldabaoth declares

"Guys don't attack or he'll counter you instantly." – Oracle warns

The team holds off on the attacks for a bit and use their personas heal and attack and defense boost abilities to charge up some offense and defense. Yaldabaoth uses this opportunity to heal all damage he took during the last few minutes as if he never took any damage at all.

"The abyss of the unconscious yearns for ultimate ruin…, you have no means escape, humans. Punishment shall strike you all…as you pass the gates of destruction!" – Yaldabaoth declares

Yaldabaoth uses three black and red beams to charge the center of his body all at once and prepares for an attack and the thieves brace themselves for what is about to be his ultimate devastating attack!

"Everyone watch out it's going to be a big one!" – Oracle warns

The thieves stay firm on the guard and Yaldabaoth shoots out his monstrous attack causing major damage, but they manage to survive!

"So…this is the power that resists ruin…my control shall not bow down to ruin. My control is the ultimate truth of this world." – Yaldabaoth stays firm on his rule

"Guys it's not over yet, here he comes!" – Morgana warns the team

Yaldabaoth uses his sword to attack, but instead of aiming for Joker or any of the other Phantom Thieves he aims for none other than Cereza instead!

"Die, Umbra witch!" – Yaldabaoth yells commencing his strike towards her

Cereza's eyes widen as she is unable to move out of the way, but Ren quickly notices the attack and runs with all of speed!

"Mom! NOOO!" – He yells still running towards her

Ren tries with all his might to get to his mother in time before the attack lands on her, but isn't fast enough he closes his eyes and opens them again and opens them again, but this time they turn purple. He leans forward and in a quick flash Ren activates his new witch power that allows him to turn into a lion! Ren has activated Beast Within!

Everyone is shocked by this and even Cereza. The boy roars loudly and runs twice as fast as he did seconds ago and finally makes to her in time to defend her but as he turns back into his human form and pushes her out of the way, the sword devastatingly slashes him across the chest!

Cereza gets up and looks at her son, who was flown back by the attack and instantly tears up and covers her mouth at this horrible sight. She uses all of her strength to get up and runs over to her son who starts bleeding.

"REEEEEEEEEN!" – She cries out

"Joker!" – the Phantom Thieves yell out as well

Ren spits up blood that spills on his chest and covers his mouth. He writhes in agony and shivers in cold. His mom is crying as she grabs her son's body. He opens his eyes to see his mother bawling. The Phantom Thieves reach to him as well as they all cry in unison at the sight of their leader's fall.

"Ren! My baby! My baby, no! Dammit! No! Please get up, son! Get up!" – Cereza cries out to him

"Come on, dude! This isn't funny…stop clowning around! We have to keep fighting just like you said! Now get up!" – Ryuji yells at him with a breaking voice

"Ren…please don't die…we need you…I need you." – Makoto pleads

"This…isn't happening, someone please tell me I'm dreaming…" – Yusuke says hoping that's all a nightmare

"I…I wish this was a nightmare as well…" – Haru agrees

"No…Ren…no…why?!" – Ann cries

"His pulse, his heart beat…they're all slowing down, they're fading…" – Futaba analyzes in a breaking tone

"Yaldabaoth, you monster! You evil damn monster!" – Morgana angered

"Now do you foolish defiant humans understand? Can you now comprehend the magnitude of your disobedience?!

Resistance is fruitless, ruin is an inevitable fate…you mere pawns of my game have only yourselves to hold liable. Had you simply stayed complacent, and not fight your fates, this tragedy needn't to befall on you all. This trickster has filled your heads with hubris and false senses of hope and free will and now before you, lies the result of such arrogance and pride. His nonsensical morality shall now become his permanent end!" – Yaldabaoth ruthlessly mocks the thieves and dying Ren

Cereza's purple Umbra aura begins to grow larger and dark as she clenches her teeth and fists in extreme enragement. She pulls out her gun and fires an intense line of bullets at the god of creation, but they prove meaningless…

Ren, in a severe state of pain and agony, grabs his mother's arm to get her to stop and look at him. She does this and glances at her dying son.

"M…mom…" – weakened Ren calls to her

Cereza grabs her son's head and holds him closer to her stomach as he rests on her knees.

"I'm here, son! I'm here, baby. Please stay with me!" She pleaded crying once more

"Mom…I'm…I'm sorry. I'm so…sorry…" – Ren apologizes

"Stop apologizing, you don't have to do that anymore. You know I'll always forgive you, you're my son you understand?! My son and nothing is going to take that from us!" – Cereza reassures him

"Please listen…to me, mom. I should've…been a better son to you…if I hadn't been…so selfish and hateful to you…this never would've happened. This is all…my fault. I pushed you away...when all you wanted to do…was be my mom and I hated you for it. I'm so sorry, momma. At least…now…you don't have…to worry about protecting an ungrateful…bastard child like me…at least now…you can have your old life back…and I…won't be in the way…anymore." – severely injured Ren apologizes once again

Cereza's tears intensify to the point where they begin to fall onto Ren's face.

"You stupid silly little boy…don't you get it, son?! I don't want my old life back! I don't want it back because…you're my life! You're not ungrateful because you had every right to be mad at me! I'm the one who abandoned you and led you down this path! If I had been a stronger mother for you and chose loving you over protecting you, then you never would've had to leave me! This is my fault! I did this to you and now you're paying for my mistakes! I'm the worst mother in the world and I'm so sorry, Ren." – Cereza expresses her deepest sorrowful apologies.

"Mom…that was all…in the past…you don't need to blame... yourself anymore, momma…I love you, momma. I…always will…" – Ren utters his last words before exhaling his last breath

Cereza doesn't say another word, all she can do right now is stare at her son's lifeless body in crippling pain and anguish. Silence filled the air around them. Regret and doubt cloud their minds. The sense of despair fills the now grieving mother. She is unable to continue and her will to fight has all but depleted…

_The Velvet Room_

Ren awakens in the Velvet Room inside his cell. He goes up to the cell bars and sees Igor and Lavenza staring at him.

"So…it would appear that you have fallen in battle have you, trickster?" – Igor asks

"I…had to save my mom. I owed her for everything she did for me and for how horribly I treated her." – Ren replies

"I see…you're selfless act ended in death, it was courageous none the less. A trickster who is willing to sacrifice his or her own life to protect others are more than just mere tricksters…" – Igor commends him

"Though it was a sudden death, we have most fortunate news for you, Ren Amamiya. There is someone that would like to speak with you…" – Lavenza said

"Someone that wants to speak with me? Who and what do they want with me?" – He asked

Igor then opens Ren's cell gate

"You should ask her yourself, trickster. She's been waiting here for you for quite a while…". – The short man said

Ren walks out of the cell gate and looks around. The ground begins to shake and shocks Ren so much that it causes him to fall to the ground. A red and black portal opens up from the ground and out of him comes two large purple hands with red nails that carry the boy upward. Soon a butterfly shaped headpiece with a gold piece on the center bottom appears from out of the portal and soon after the face of a purple skinned woman with blank red eyes and lips. This demonic looking woman is starring Ren dead in the face, but to him, he feels no fear, for he himself has felt this presence before.

"_Do you know who I am, boy?" – The demonic woman asked_

"No…I don't, but for reason, I feel like you and I are oddly connected in a way…if I'm not mistaking, you remind me of my mother." – Ren responds

"_There is no mistaking then…you are her son, boy. You…share the same Umbran blood as her. She and I have made a pact with each other centuries ago. She is my vessel and I am her power. You are her son, therefore, you and I are also a pact, yes?" – the demonic woman asked_

"You know my mom? So then in that case…you must be the source of all her power! You're the reason she's so strong and powerful!" – Ren discovers

"_Precisely, boy. For many years, I have fought along side your mother and aided her conquest to bring chaos and destruction to our enemies and fought alongside each other as one! And now, you have become an Umbra witch as well as your mother once did, but to truly become a witch, you must obtain power! That is why the time has come for YOU and I to become one as well! By forging a contract with me you and I will be bound to each other for eternity and I shall help you in this time of crisis. Will you form a pact with me, boy?" – the demon woman asked_

Ren takes a moment to process what the demon woman was offering him and lifts his head back up remembering that he made a promise to protect his mother.

"If this means that I can become as strong as mom and protect her from now on and not vise versa, then I'll take it! YES! I will form a contract with you!"

"_Perfect!" – the demon said smirking_

The demon then lifts its one hand and uses it one finger to point it Ren's head. A light shines upon in front of the boy and demon and in an instant they are transported back to the world of the living.

_Back on the Tokyo Skyscraper _

A blinding light shines upon Ren's seemingly dead body as it is being lifted into the air out of Cereza's airs, she wonders what is happening to him, as she herself has no control over this shocking moment.

"What?! What the hell's happening?!" – Ryuji desperate for an answer

"I don't know!" – Cereza replies

Ren's eyes are still closed but his body descend on to the floor and he lands perfectly. He stands up with his eyes still shut and with no expression on his face. He opens his mouth and begins to speak, but his usual deep voice is shadowed by the voice of the demonic woman that only Cereza could recognize.

"_I am thou…thou art I…the raging blood of the demon burns deep within thine soul. Slaughter the fraudulent idols and make them fall to the ground from their own fake towers of their own cognition. Let them burn and be devoured by their own chaos! Watch them as they writhe in screaming agony and despair as they beg FOR MERCY!" – Ren and demonic women speak the contract quote_

The contract is finished and it is signed. Ren lifts his head up and opens his eyes and appearing from purple flames, comes a butterfly shaped mask, the same mask as his mother Cereza's and grandmother Rosa's. He rips it off and calls forth _**his newest umbra persona.**_

"_**Come forth! MADAMA!" – Ren shouts**_

_**A large red and black portal and out comes Ren's newest persona. The demon that has always been apart of Cereza since the very beginning.**_

"_**I…am the Mistress of Atrocity…MADAMA BUTTERFLY!" – she shouts**_

"What?! What is this power?! You should have been dead a while ago!" – Yaldabaoth protests

"This is unbelievable…" – Fox amazed

"Holy freakin shit, Ren." – Ryuji says

"Wow…" – Makoto dazzled

Cereza is looking at Ren and is smiling like she has never smiled before. She's not just looking at her son anymore, but rather her successor and legacy.

"Ren…you've done it…you've become strong…just like your dear old mummy. I…couldn't be any more proud of you, son!" – She says wiping a tear from her eye.

"Wow…who would've thought that our own leader would be able to hold so much power. You truly are amazing, Joker. What better way to end this with a gigantic finale as a trickster?! Now go and finish him off!" – Morgana says to him

Ren's deathly stare at Yaldabaoth increases as he pulls out his gun which has been turned into a desert eagle pistol with the words, "_Saturday Night Special" _engraved onto the gun. He points it at Yaldabaoth and takes great aim at his head with Madama Butterfly turning her hand into a cannon pointing at the god's head as well. Cereza then comes from behind the boy and places her hand on the trigger as well. Ren looks up at her and smiles and she happily returns it. They both look back at Yaldabaoth who is shaken with fear.

"Preposterous! You dare rob the people's wishes?!" – He asked

"Hey, Yaldabaoth..." – Ren calls his name

"Huh?" – the god confuses himself

"…_**DON'T FUCK WITH A WITCH!**_" – Ren ends it pulling the trigger

The purple bullet flys and go straight through Yaldabaoth's face dead center. The god is leaning back as his arms holding the deadly sins disappear.

"I am the God of Control, the God of Creation, Yaldabaoth! How could I have fallen to such mere humans?!" – He wonders

"Take a look at me, god. I'm not just a human or a trickster. You're looking at the newest Umbra Witch and the strongest one yet." – Ren tells him

"How…unpredictable. To think such a mere boy could change his own fate like that…but I guess that is the true power of the trickster after all. You have not only defeated a god, but the child of the creator Jubileus. You, boy, are truly the changer of fate…" – Yaldabaoth concedes as a red portal full of hands begin to take him under.

Madama butterfly disappears and Ren kneels in exhaustion. Cereza catches his body and he looks up to her face.

"Well, mom…how...was that?" – He asked

She hugs the boy tightly into her chest.

"Smashing, son. I'm so proud to call myself your mother." – She praises him

"Well Phantom Thieves looks like this is a mission complete. Great job!" – Morgana says

_Back at Leblanc _

Ren wakes up in his night clothes to see his mother lying down on his bed right next to him.

"Oh hey, mom." – Ren greets

"Did you have a nice beauty sleep, my dear son?" – She asked

"Hehe…sure I guess." – he chuckles

"Where is everyone?" – he asked

"They all went home when we came back, dear. They'll be back soon when I tell them you've awakened." – She informs her son

"Oh okay, good." – Ren says

The room is silent, but Ren soon breaks it and speaks

"So we did it, huh?" – He says

"You did it, son. That was your most best battle ever and mummy's very proud of you." – Cereza praises him kissing his cheek

"But still, don't ever die on me again! You scared mummy half to death and she was very worried, young man! Got it!" She says grabbing his ear

"Ouch okay yes yes I give I give!" – Ren obeys

Cereza soon then begins to tear up and hugs her son tightly. She sniffs and tries to speak.

"Good…because I mean it. Don't do it again." – a crying Cereza ordered

"Don't worry about me, mom. I'll be okay." – Ren assures his mother

The mother and son share a beautiful moment and lay back down in the bed and fall back asleep this time Ren wraps his arm around Cereza's body and lies his head close to hers. He smiles.

_Monday April 1__st__, 20XX_

_Lelblanc, Morning_

Ren is all packed and ready for another day at school. He's sitting at the bar eating his morning curry and drinking his morning coffee, but it was Sojiro who made it this time, who was sitting at a table reading the paper, it was Cereza who made them. She's wearing a white teeshirt and black skin right jeans with an apron to match.

"How do you like it, son, is it to your liking?" – She happily asked

"It's great, mom! Thanks!" – Ren thanks her

Ren looks at his watch and widens his eyes.

"Oh crap! I gotta go! See ya mom!" – Ren says grabbing his bag with Morgana inside and heads off

"Ren darling, aren't you forgetting something?" – Cereza asked tapping her cheek

"Of course not, how could I forget." – Ren replies running back to her kissing her cheek

Cereza brightly smiles and waves good bye to her son.

"Have a great day, my dear sweet child!" – she says

Cereza looks back at the counter and notices that Ren forgot his lunch as well. She grabs at and runs out the door to give it to him, but as soon as she reaches the outside, debris is falling from the sky. People are running and screaming taking cover. She looks up to notice that it was none other than the Angels of Paradiso causing trouble again. She rips off her clothes and changes into her Umbra uniform and creates an Umbra portal to Purgitorio. She pulls out her Love is Blue guns and takes a battle stance. However, as soon as she's about to begin to fight. She sees another Umbra portal be created and out of it comes her son Ren wearing his Phantom Thief outfit. He looks at her and smiles and she smirks back it him as they both point their guns at the now charging angels.

"_LETS DANCE, BOYS!" – Cereza says_

"_CAUSE IT'S SHOWTIME!" – Ren completes his mother's catch phase_

"_I love that boy." – She says smiling_

**END OF CHAPTER 5! **

**Hey guys thank you for reading chapter 5! Sorry I was late but a lot of things happened and as it stands I will still be on hiatus for 2 and a half months, but don't worry more will come when I come back. Next chapter is gonna be a fun side chapter.**

**Next time: Dancing in Starlight Moonriver**

**Thanks for the support guys, love you all! ;)**


	7. Chapter 6: I Missed You, My Sweet Nephew

_Chapter 6: I missed you, my nephew!_

_Friday, May 15__th__, 20XX_

_Evening_

_LeBlanc_

_Ren is sitting on his bed in his night clothes ready for another night of sleep after a day of witch training. He readies his comforter and lays his whole body horizontally on his mattress. Just as he's about to rest, he hears a woman's voice call him._

"_Ren, darling. Were you about to fall asleep without a goodnight kiss from mummy?" – the woman asked walking up the attic stairs_

_Ren sighs and sits back up._

"_No, moooom." – tired Ren said accepting his mother's kiss_

_It was Ren's mother, Cereza, who was now working part time at LeBlanc. It was almost two months after the defeat of Yaldabaoth and Cereza decided to stay in Japan to repair the relationship with her son. Ren has finally forgiven his mother for her absence and has since been bonding with her and learning to masterfully control his new Umbra witch powers. Last week he learned how to summon Madama Butterfly's wicked weave limbs other than summoning her than just as a persona. With this, he is now able to utilize both his persona and umbra powers together at once. Cereza grew more and more proud of her son becoming the witch her mother, Rosa, prophesied. _

_Cereza sits next to her son and notices his body is filled with fatigue. She smiles and gives him his goodnight kiss on his forehead._

"_You trained very hard today, my son." – She tells him_

"_I have to be honest, mom. I didn't think mastering infernal demons from hell would be this tough. I easily got the hang of using my personas when I first started." – Ren explains_

"_It wasn't any easier for me as well son. When your Auntie Jeanne and I were little witches coming up, I had some difficulties too. It was hard for me to contain my summoned demons when I first started, but you on the other hand, are the strongest in our clan, dear son. So if we could get the hang of the it, I know my daring boy can." – Cereza said boosting Ren's confidence_

_Hearing his mom mention his Auntie Jeanne made him start to think about her. Ren breaks the silence and starts to ask about her._

"_You know, mom, you've been mentioning Auntie a lot lately, but I don't think I ever asked… Where is Auntie Jeanne anyway? Is she okay?" – Ren asked his mother_

"_She's alright, she's back at our hometown, overseeing the repairs on our old home." – Cereza informs him_

"_Oh I see…" – Ren pauses hanging his head_

"…_You miss your Auntie don't you, dear?" – Cereza asks_

"_Yeah…I guess." – He responds_

"_You and her used to be such a pair. Honestly, she was like your second mummy." – Cereza describes _

_Cereza pulls out a little photo album from her pocket and opens it up. _

"_And you just carry that around with you, mom?" – Ren asked _

_Cereza moves behind her son and hugs him tightly and tickles him._

"_Don't judge me, little one! There's nothing wrong with wanting to visit Memory Lane!" – Cereza playfully her son_

"_Agh…okay okay, mom! I get it! Let go already!" – Ren laughingly pleads_

_Cereza ceases her tickling shows Ren the pictures in the photo album. One photo in particular, is one of Jeanne in her signature red biker outfit holding baby Ren wearing her cat biker goggles on his forehead._

"_She loved you so much, Jeanne was always so protective of you, she would even threaten the babysitters whenever her and I left you with one if you weren't asleep on time." – The witch chuckles_

"_It was so long ago…Auntie…" – Ren thinks to himself_

_Ren looks at the photo of him and his auntie once more with more focus than he had previously looked. He then started to feel like the room around started to change and after a moment of blinking, Ren starts to reminisce about his previous life with his mom and auntie before the separation._

_**(Flashback**__)_

_**Ren is 2 weeks old **_

_It's late well into midnight and raining. Cereza and Jeanne were both deep sleeping, their resting souls unfazed by the loud storm outside the mansion walls Cereza's newborn son, Ren however, is awoken by the loud and thunderous lighting strikes and wakes up crying. The sound of the baby's wailing is loud enough to make the baby monitor give off a screeching sound and after Cereza's ears pick up the sound she immediately moves out of her large bed and rushes to her crying son's room. She walks into the room and picks up the crying infant from his crib, who was wrapped in his blanket and wearing a crochet._

"_Shhhhhhh…don't cry, little one. Mummy's here now." – She comforts him_

"_Did the frightening storm wake you up, dear? I'm sorry." – She apologized_

_Ren starts to bring his crying to a minimum, tears still falling down the infant's cheeks. Cereza gives him a much needed motherly kiss to the boy's cheek, which ceases the child's crying completely. She smiles and begins to rock him ever so gently in order to get the boy back to sleep. She walks over to the rocking chair and sits down with her son. She continuously rocks back and forth singing his favorite lullaby until the baby finally falls back to sleep._

"_It's alright now, my child. Return to your sweet dreams." – Cereza quietly tells him_

_Baby Ren closes his eyes and quickly falls back asleep. His beautifully tall mother lays him back into his crib and gives him one last kiss on the cheek for good measure. She walks out of the room and lets him resume his sleepy time._

_**The Next Morning**_

_Cereza is sitting on the couch holding Ren, who was wearing his onesie pajamas that Jeanne bought him, feeding him his formula while watching the news on her large sized tv. Jeanne is at the table sipping her tea while grading her student's homework. Ren is calm and quiet and his mother can't help but admire her new son. She has been a parent for 2 weeks now and she already had formed a strong bond with her new child. Cereza kisses the baby's forehead, which causes him to slightly wipe it right on the spot where she kissed it with his tiny balled up fist. Cereza chuckles at this and caresses the child's cheek. Ren starts cooing and grabs onto his mother's finger. Jeanne notices the two and breaks her silence._

"_Having fun you two?" – Jeanne playfully asked _

_Cereza turns her head facing the white haired witch._

"_A blast, dear. Little one is getting bigger and bigger by the day!" – She responds happily _

"_That goes without saying." – Jeanne says walking over to the couch to sit next to the mother and her son_

_Baby Ren begins to turn his sights to the white haired woman and starts cooing._

"_Say "hi" to Auntie Jeanne, little one." – She happily tells her baby_

_Ren's continues cooing towards Jeanne, which causes her to softly rub her thumb across his cheek. She gives a light smirk. _

"_You're quite adorable aren't you?" – She kindly asked the child_

_Ren responds to this by grabbing on to his Auntie's thumb and squeezes it. Jeanne lightly smiles and kisses his forehead. _

"_Want to hold him for me while I make myself some tea, Jeanne? It's about time you two got well aquatinted." – Cereza asked her friend_

"_I suppose so, he seems to be taking a liking to me already." – Jeanne accepts_

_Jeanne takes hold of the baby while Cereza stands up to go make herself some tea. Jeanne can't help but feel at ease with her nephew, his body was so soft and frail. She was holding something so fragile yet so pure that she didn't want to stop. Jeanne cradles her new nephew as it starts to slowly drowse off, it was beginning to sleep._

"_Seems your little bundle of joy's taking his nap early, Cereza." – Jeanne tells her_

_Cereza halts making her tea and walks back to the couch. She takes Ren back, who was now sleeping and grabs his baby blanket. She lays it on the floor along with a couch pillow and proceeds to rest her child on the blanket. _

"_He sure enjoys napping doesn't he?" – Jeanne asks finishing her tea_

_Cereza walks back to the table to finish making her tea. _

"_He simply can't get enough of it, Jeanne. I think he slept through half a day yesterday." – the mother replies after sipping her tea_

_**Outside the mansion door**_

_Journalist and Bayonetta's suave yet creepy stalker, Luka and magic card thrower, Loki are both standing outside Bayonetta's home. The both of them are holding gifts for the new baby. Loki is standing right next to Luka frowning and not in a pleasant mood. _

"_Can you explain to me why the bloody fuck am I waisting a perfectly nice Saturday holding a damn teddy bear outside Bayonetta's doorstep when I could be doing 5 other good things I could easily name right now?" – the bright haired boy complained_

"_I told you for the third time now, we're congratulating Bayonetta on her new baby!" – Luka explained to him_

"_I thought you fucking joking?! You mean to tell me she actually went through with it?! Since when does someone like Bayonetta give a shit about babies anyway?!" – Loki angrily asked_

"_Look, sometimes people change alright?! Even the ones you least expect. You should be happy for her that she's trying to settle down a bit. Killing angels must be a tiresome job for her." – Luka explained_

"_I'm surprised you of all people are happy for her, doesn't it piss you off that it's not also __**your **__baby?" – Loki teases_

"_What-t shut up!" – Luka embarrassingly yells_

_The front door furiously opens and it's Jeanne standing in front of the two looking mad and rather frustrated._

"_My new nephew is trying to sleep. It is 10 in the damn morning. Is there any reason why I shouldn't have you two clowns dragged right down to Hell for causing such a commotion?!" – Jeanne threatens with her hair ferociously rising_

_Luka and Loki panic and Luka musters up the strength to respond._

"_We-we're here to congratulate Bayonetta…o-on the baby!" – Luka explained showing her his gift_

_Jeanne eases her frustration and accepts Luka's claim._

"_I suppose you're not lying. Alright then, get inside. She's in the living room." – Jeanne directed the two_

_Luka and Loki finally make it inside the home and proceed to the living room. They spot Bayonetta sitting on the couch holding her baby Ren, who was now wide awake after hearing them at the door._

"_Oh my, Luka , Loki, this is quite a surprise isn't it?" – Bayonetta greeted them_

"_I see your doing well, Bayonetta and the new baby I presume?" – Luka asked_

"_Yes, we both are. This is my son, Ren. Ren this is Luka and Loki, say hello, sweetie." – Cereza introduces her son to them._

_Baby Ren stares at both Luka and Loki and starts cooing. Luka walks closer to Cereza and the baby to introduce himself. He places his hand on his head and started to tussle it gently._

"_Hey, little guy, I'm Luka." – Luka introduces himself_

"_So you really did it eh, love? You actually had a kid?" – Loki asked_

"_You didn't expect me to stay lonely forever now did you, little one?" – She chuckled_

"_Hehmm!" – Jeanne sharply clears her throat_

"_Oh come now, Jeanne, I'm only kidding. But I'm all honesty, I've gotten to that point where I get the time was necessary to have something of my own for a change and take on more responsibilities in this boring angel filled dreadful world." – Cereza explains_

"_Never really expected to hear that from you, Bayonetta, you've changed a lot." – Luka acts surprised_

_Loki starts to grow more suspicious of Cereza's change in attitude and narrows his eyes. His hands begin to glow light blue as his cards start to manifest._

"_Who are you and where's the real Bayonetta?! Or is this another Joy angel taking form of her again?!" – Loki questioned_

_Jeanne moves next to Loki tightly pinches his ear in light of his comment._

"_Ow! Hey! What the hell?!" – Loki exclaims_

"_Not in this house and while my nephew is in here, barbaric brat, drop em'!" – the white haired witch demanded tightening her grip on Loki_

"_Ow! Alright alright! Just let go of me!" – Loki easily surrendered dropping his cards_

_The commotion causes Ren to start fussing and whining. _

"_Both of you quit making such a ruckus, you're making the baby upset." - Cereza scolds them while trying to calm Ren down._

_She gently rocks the baby left and right._

"_Shhhhhh, it's okay, dear." – She calm down her child_

_Ren's whining stops and begins to stare at Loki_

"_Ren seems to like you, Loki." – Cereza points out_

"_Oh…um." – Loki confused_

"_Here, Loki, why don't you hold him?" – Cereza suggests_

"_I…don't know…I don't think he'll like me." – Loki nervously declines_

"_Oh come now, little one, he won't bite. Just give it a try." – Cereza insists_

"_Um…well...I guess." – Loki hesitatingly agrees_

_Cereza gives the baby to Loki to hold. He wraps his arm around Ren's body and his other arm to support his head._

"_See, Loki? You're doing quite well for someone's who's never held an infant before." – Cereza compliments him_

_Then after a few seconds, Baby Ren starts crying using his small hands to push against Loki's cheeks away from him. Loki slightly panics Cereza moves in and removes the child from his arms and tries to calm her son down._

"_Sorry, Loki. He just doesn't know you yet, that's all. Don't take it personally." – Cereza apologized rocking her son _

"_I doesn't matter, love. I'm not a huge fan of babies anyway." – Loki frowned in embarrassment turning his head away from the baby _

_Ren eventually calms down and buries his head into his mom's chest. He balls up his hands and places them near her neck and starts snoring. The boy quickly began to start sleeping. Overwhelmed by the new people he just met must've caused him to tire himself out. She gently places him on the blanket on the floor resting his head against the pillow next to it. Jeanne walks over to the couch and sits down right next to the baby and gently rubs his back as he slept. _

"_Perhaps, I could get used to this new Auntie role after all." – the white haired woman thought to herself smiling at her sleeping nephew_

_**(End of Flashback)**_

_Ren comes back to his senses and stops staring at the photo. He looks back at his mother. _

"_You were staring at that for quite a bit, dear." – Cereza points out_

"_You think auntie knows I'm still alive mom?" – Ren asks_

"_I sure she does, son. We umbra witches can sense each other from miles away. That's how I was able to find you here in the first place. She'll probably find us eventually. Don't worry." – Cereza says getting off of his bed and pats his head_

"_Well then, little one, Mummy had better be off. Sojiro's going to be away tomorrow so he left me in charge of the store tomorrow." – Cereza about to take her leave_

"_Oh alright then. Goodnight, mom." – Ren says_

"_Goodnight, my sweet son." – Cereza replies_

_Cereza gives Ren one last goodnight kiss on his forehead and finally leaves. She turns the lights off and locks up LeBlanc and begins to make her way back to her hotel room. Ren starts to fall asleep. _

_A couple of hours pass as Ren is fast asleep, Morgana is with Futaba this time so he's spending the night at LeBlanc alone. The night seemed so peaceful, from the full moon to the quiet backstreets of Yongen-Jaya. That is…until a white portal opens up 50 feet from above LeBlanc's roof and out from it appears a woman on a motorcycle, who makes a loud and thunderous landing onto the ceiling. The sound was loud enough to wake up Ren from his deep sleep as well as nearby residents. _

"_What the hell?! That sounds like a motorcycle…but it sounds like it's coming from the roof?!" – a startled Ren says to himself _

_Ren goes to investigate the noise. He unlocks the store's door and heads outside to further inspect what just happened. The woman who just caused the sound drives her motorcycle off of the roof and on align her bike's tires on top of the surface of a wall next to the store. She then skillfully jumps off of the wall and onto the street right in front of Ren flashing her motorcycle's bright light at him. Ren for a brief moment is blinded by the light and shields his face with his hands. The woman finally cuts off her bike's engine and turns out it's light and sees the startled frizzy haired teen. _

"_Didn't your mummy and daddy ever teach you not to play in the streets, little boy?" – the woman asked_

"_Didn't yours teach you not to ride loud motorcycles on top of buildings…in the middle of the night…when people are asleep?!" – Ren responded _

_Ren finally opens his eyes and puts his hands down. He sees that the biker is wearing a tight red biker outfit with angular shoulders and a vertical stripe design completed with silver and orange googles resembling cat eyes. Her most notable feature was her long white hair that stretched all the way to her thighs. He is overcome with shock and surprise as he begins to remember that very woman. The woman saw this to be rather strange and awkward because Ren was just standing there staring at her so she finally breaks the tension in the air. _

"_You're quite the strange type aren't you, little boy?" – She asked hopping off her bike_

_A rush of instant memories hit Ren's mind like a speeding train. He finally comes to his senses and realizes who this woman was. It was none other than his mother Cereza's best friend and his long lost auntie, Jeanne. _

"_A-auntie? Is…that you?" – Ren asked her_

_Jeanne stops for a moment and begins to have a very serious on her face. She further inspects Ren, not yet believing that it was her long lost nephew she had missed so much._

"_Why did you just call me that? Just who are you?" – Jeanne asked firmly_

"_You don't remember me, Auntie? It's me. Ren. Cereza's son." – Ren responded_

_Jeanne's eyes widen after hearing the boy's words_

"_Cereza's son?!" – Jeanne said softly_

_Ren then pulls out his umbra watch and opens it to reveal his baby picture of him and his mom to Jeanne to get her to remember. Jeanne quickly swiped it from Ren's hands and looks at the picture. She stood there looking at the picture of baby Ren and his mother together and starts to look back at Ren who she now understands is really her long lost nephew. Jeanne closes the watch and her small tears become visible after coming to this sudden realization. She covers her mouth with her hand and turns her sights on Ren, who starts to reach out to her with one hand._

"_Auntie…I" – Ren is soon interrupted_

_Jeanne takes Ren's incoming hand and pulls the teenager in for the long awaited hug she had saved for this very moment. Ren's left side of his face is pressed into her chest and Jeanne's cheek is resting on the boy's frizzy hair. Her tears start to reach the boy's forehead, but soon lifts off her head to face him and finally gathers her strength to speak._

"_Ren...my nephew...my sweet beautiful nephew…I finally found you!" – She says holding him tight._

_Ren returns his hug back to his auntie and sheds a small tear himself_

"_I missed you, Auntie. I missed you so much." – He said softly_

"_I missed you too, my adorable boy." – She replied_

_Ren and Jeanne return inside LeBlanc and proceed to his room in the attic. Jeanne looks at it with disgust seeing as her nephew used to stay in a mansion and shouldn't have to be reduced to slumming. _

"_Ugh, honestly, dear nephew. Why are you being forced to live in an attic like a mouse?" – Jeanne asked him_

"_It's not really bad up here, Auntie. I've been up here for a year. I'm fine with it." – Ren respond_

"_Absolutely criminal. My nephew should not be subjected to living like some house pet. I'll be sure to have a "word" with the owner of this place tomorrow morning." – Jeanne implied_

"_Auntie, please calm down. Sojiro's not a bad guy. He took me as a favor. To tell you the truth I'm lucky anybody even bothered to take me in after my situation last year." – Ren tries to deescalate his auntie's frustration _

"_Situation? What situation?! Ren, what happened?!" – She demanded to know_

"_Last year, I got arrested…" – Ren reveals_

_Jeanne's eyes widen and is shocked by this._

"_What?!" – Jeanne shocked_

"_Last year, before I moved down here to Tokyo, I was walking back home. There was this drunk man who turned out to be a former Tokyo politician, Masayoshi Shido. He was a forcing himself onto a woman. She was yelling for help and I couldn't just ignore her so I jumped in. I tried to move him away from the her, but then he fell on his own then accused me of hitting him and even told the woman to back him up when the police came. After that, I got arrested, Shido sued me and got me falsely charged with assault and got expelled from my school. My own parents, who I thought who were my real parents until mom came back into my life, sent me away to here, where I had to start a whole new life at a new school." – Ren explains his past _

_Jeanne listens carefully and places her hand on Ren's back rubbing it gently._

"_My sweet nephew…just utterly disgusting. How could someone want to sue an innocent boy like you?" - Jeanne sympathizes with Ren_

"_A corrupt monster like Shido. That's who." – Ren replies_

_Ren continues telling his story._

"_When I started my new school, it wasn't any better there either. There was this sick volleyball coach, who physically abused and sexually harassed students, who forced one of my friends to spread blatant rumors and lies about me, saying that I was a psychopathic thug all over the school. So everyone there started treating me like I was criminal and they all hated me, feared me, or sometimes both." – Ren finishes hanging his head down _

_Jeanne starts tightly hugging her nephew, rubbing his frizzy hair. Her face fills up with furious frustration and anger_

"_This world...is so cruel to the kindest of souls…it's infuriating to know this could happen to anyone and that this happened to you, which is even worse. I blame your mother and I for this, nephew. Had we had both been strong enough to protect and raise you, you've never would've ended up like this. I'm sorry, Ren. We both failed you when you were just a child and should've done more to keep you with us. Giving you away hurt us more than when we both lost our whole clan and home." – the aunt expresses her apology _

"_It's okay, Auntie. It's not your fault. I don't think any less of you or mom for what happened. I really like it here in Tokyo, I met a lot of great people here and made a lot of great friends." – Ren replied _

_Jeanne is happy to hear that her nephew has made the best out of his situation given what he's been through in his life time._

"_I'm glad to see that your happy, dear nephew and you're becoming stronger and a lot more handsome at that. You're certainly Cereza's child. However, had you been birthed by me for instance, you'd be twice as stronger and more handsome than you are now." – Jeanne said_

_Ren chuckles at his auntie's clear jealousy._

"_You're already like my mom, but I'm fine with you just being my auntie. You've always caring and very protective of me." – Ren tells her _

_Jeanne pulls Ren's head closer to chest_

"_Of course I am, darling. I have to make sure you are protected and safe at all times. To do otherwise would be a disservice your mummy, myself, and most importantly you. We may have separated for a long time, but my job to be your auntie has not changed." - She expressed her dedication to her nephew_

_Jeanne kisses Ren's forehead and for a brief short moment, the image of Ren as a baby appeared in before her eyelids. She stared for a quick second and soon came back to reality and then smile brightly at her now grown up nephew that she had missed for so long. She pulls him in for another hug._

"_Well I certainly don't want to keep you hear awake any longer. Your auntie should get going now, dear nephew." – Jeanne said standing up from Ren's bed_

"_Auntie, do you have a place to stay tonight?" – Ren asked_

"_Not at the moment, but I'll find a place soon enough. We witches are quite resourceful." – Jeanne replies_

"_You can stay here if you want, Auntie. I'm okay with it." – Ren insisted_

"_Are you sure, nephew? I don't want to get into your way." – Jeanne feeling unsure about Ren's offer_

"_It's okay, Auntie. I don't mind, you can sleep on my bed if you want, I can just sleep on the couch." – Ren suggested_

"_Well, suppose it wouldn't hurt, especially since my nephew is offering, but still on one condition however..." – she answered back with a smile _

"_What is it?" – Ren asked_

"_I want to sleep next to you…" – She continues_

_Ren blushes and starts sweating sat his auntie's suggestion._

"_Um…auntie are you sure…about that?" – Ren asked nervously_

_Jeanne chuckles at her nephew's obvious nervousness _

"_Its alright, nephew. I mean no unethical intentions. I just prefer to be next to my sweet nephew rather than you sleeping on a couch." – Jeanne clarifies_

"_Oh…well I guess it's okay then." – Ren accepts_

"_Excellent." – Jeanne says _

"_Just let me change really quick into my night clothes. I might need a bit of privacy though." – She says_

_Ren blushes again and stands up from his bed_

"_Oh sure, then I'll just wait downstairs until your done changing, Auntie." – Ren said walking towards the stairs _

"_Thank you, dear." – She thanks him_

_Ren waits by the bar counter for Jeanne to finish changing. When she finishes, she pops her head over the banister. _

"_All finished, nephew! Come on up and let's get to sleep!" – Jeanne yelled from the attic_

_Ren is a bit startled by his auntie's loud voice, but quickly regains his composure and starts making his way to his room. As soon as Ren reaches the final step, his eyes expand and inhales sharply as he gazed upon his auntie's nightwear. She was a wearing seemingly expensive dark red pajamas with luxurious designs stitched into the clothing. She notices Ren's hesitation to move and breaks his trance._

"_Well don't just stand there, sweet nephew, you have to get your sleep." – his auntie said snapping him back to reality_

"_Uh…yeah sure…sorry." – Ren nervously apologizes_

_Ren started to sweat a little bit from his forehead as he starts to move towards his bed. He lies down on his mattress and gets himself comfortable with Jeanne following suit. She places her hand on Ren's shoulder and reaches over to head and gives him a goodnight kiss on his cheek. The kiss was strong enough to calm Ren's nerves and he finally relaxes. She then wraps her arms around her nephew's body and rests her head next to his. She exhales in such a relaxingly calm tone._

"_Doesn't this just brings back memories, sweet nephew. I remember when you and I would have our little sleep overs and I would hold you just like this whenever I was babysitting you while Cereza was away." – Jeanne blissfully reminisces_

"_It was so long ago, yet I can remember it like it was yesterday." – Ren adds_

_Ren starts to stare at the moon that was shining bright outside his window. He started to drift his mind back to when he was a baby and one of the nights where Jeanne would babysit him._

_**(Flashback)**_

_**Ren is 3 weeks old**_

_Baby Ren and his Auntie Jeanne are in bed and Jeanne is playing with her nephew before bedtime. She repeatedly tickles him and gives him raspberries on his stomach making him laugh uncontrollably. He flails his arms around like a monkey and gives his auntie a bright baby's smile. Jeanne couldn't help but smile at the child's enjoyment, she couldn't explain, but being with Ren made her feel happy and engaged to take care of him whenever Cereza needed help. Her old self would've never have given the time of day to a child, let alone a baby, who cries at any given moment. But with Ren, it was different. She didn't feel disgusted nor any feeling of discomfort towards the boy, it was the complete opposite. It was as if Ren had inadvertently set off a change of heart in the white haired witch. A maternal change that made her want to be a mother figure to him and what better way to do it than to be his auntie. One that could love, nurture, and protect him forever. _

_Jeanne looks at the clock at and notices that it's past 9:30pm, which was Ren's usual bed time._

"_Oh, how careless of me, nephew, you should already be in bed." – Jeanne said picking the baby up_

_As Jeanne and Ren walk into his room, she sits down in the rocking chair and starts singing Ren's favorite lullaby to get him to sleep. After he finally starts his slumber, she lays him down in his crib and covers him with his blankets after she puts on his crochet. _

"_Goodnight, Ren. Auntie loves you." – she says giving him a goodnight kiss on his cheek._

_3 hours pass, and Jeanne randomly wakes up from her sleep. Cereza is still out on her job killing angels and hasn't yet returned home. Jeanne looks at the baby monitor to check up on Ren and all seems fine, but she decides go to his room anyway to check on him in person to be absolutely sure he was fine. Once Jeanne is inside, she takes one good look at the slumbering child before her. Ren was lying there peacefully and Jeanne couldn't help but admire how beautiful her best friend's son looked. She softly places one hand on his head where his crochet cover so she wouldn't wake him up by accident. The softness and purity of Cereza's child melted Jeanne's heart. _

"_Who would've possibly imagined, me taking care of a child, Cereza's especially?" – She questioned herself_

"_This is a new me, isn't it? Never have I dreamed of being apart of a child's life, I just always figured it would be just Cereza and I till the end of time, but somewhere along the road, we changed…we matured and it was all thanks to you..." – she pauses_

_She takes another glance at the baby_

"_And honestly, I think I've never been happier. You and I may not be blood related little one, but for what it's worth, I'm happy to be your auntie and that your apart of our family now. Ren, you truly sparked that a change within us. Thank you…for stealing my heart and bringing us so much happiness. For that, I love you so much, dear nephew… now and forever…" – She finishes preceding to kiss the boy on his cheek_

_**(End of Flashback)**_

_Ren turns around to face his auntie who had small but visibility tears showing. He wipes one of them away then smiles at her. _

"_You alright, auntie?" – He asked_

_She smiles brightly back at the frizzy haired boy_

"_Of course, my sweet boy. It's just, nothing could make this night any better, knowing that my darling nephew is back in my arms again." – she responded_

"_What I said before wasn't just words I threw together carelessly, Ren. I truly meant all of it. I'm proud to be your auntie. It's because of you, I've changed. Call it a "change of heart" if you will. I never use to care for children until you came into our lives, your mother's and mine. I love you so much, Ren, never forget that." – She said to him following up with a kiss to his forehead right after_

"_I love you too, auntie. Thank you for being in my life and never forgetting about me." – Ren said returning the kiss back on her cheek_

"_Goodnight, Ren." – she said softly_

"_Goodnight, auntie." – he responded _

_The two finally drowse off and fall asleep, Ren has a smile on his face as Jeanne's arms continues her light grip wrapped around Ren, using one of her hands to lightly stroke his hair. The smell of roses fill the air. Wind passes through Ren's window and flow through his frizzy hair. The night was beautiful…_

_**The Next Morning**_

_Saturday, May 16__th__, 20XX_

_Morning_

_Ren had awoken and was already dressed for another day at school. He heads downstairs to see his auntie Jeanne already down there waiting for him. _

"_Good morning, nephew!" – she said hugging him _

"_Good morning, auntie. I see you made yourself coffee already. I should've woken up earlier, I could've made it for you." – Ren notices his auntie's cup_

"_It's alright, Ren. Coffee making is easy to master." – Jeanne said taking a sip right after_

"_You make really good coffee don't you?" – She asked the boy_

"_I have Sojiro to thank for it. He taught me everything about it. His coffee making's the best though." – Ren told her_

_The shop's door swings open and through comes Cereza, who was carrying two bags of coffee beans. _

"_Good morning, my beautiful s-…Jeanne?!" – Cereza said surprised _

"_Hello, Cereza." Jeanne greeted her friend while taking a sip_

"_How did you find this place? What happened last night while I was gone?!" – Cereza asked_

"_I found her last night when I heard loud motorcycle noises from within my room. She spent the night here." – Ren explained_

_Jeanne stands up from her chair after finishing her coffee hugs Ren from behind. _

"_And I must say, Cereza. Last night was wonderful. He and I caught up on so much last night. It's nice to have to family back together again. I feel quite rejoiced." – Jeanne expresses_

"_I see…I assume the rebuilding of our home is going well Jeanne?" – Cereza asked_

"_Indeed. It might take another year until it's finished, but it's coming along well." – Jeanne responded _

"_Very well then. As long as I'm with my son, I'll be fine with the wait." – Cereza said_

_Ren readjusts his school bag and starts making his way to the door._

"_Well, I should get going to school now, don't wanna be late." – he said_

"_Ummm, Ren. You're forgetting know how mummy feels about that." – the mother reminded him tapping her cheek_

_Ren sighs _

"_Of course, mom. How can I forget?" – he said in a defeated tone_

_Ren walks back to his mom and gives her a peck on the cheek._

"_Don't think I'll you off without mine, dear nephew." – Jeanne said_

"_Yes, auntie." – he said in the same tone_

_Ren walks over to Jeanne and gives her a kiss on the cheek as well._

"_Now off you go, do well in school today and pass all of your tests. I used to be a high school teacher so don't think I'll let you fall behind." – Jeanne said_

"_Yes, auntie. I'll be okay. Love you both." – He said walking out the door._

"_Love you too, son." – Cereza said_

_Cereza starts getting ready to open up the shop for today and Jeanne fixes herself another coffee._

"_So, Cereza. What school is he going to these days?" – Jeanne questioned_

"_A school called Shujin Academy. It's his second year there." – Cereza said_

"_I see…it's a good school I presume?" – Jeanne asked_

"_I'd say it's decent. He told me that they had a PE teacher who was abusing and molesting students there, but that was old news." – She explained_

"_Oh yes, Ren did tell me about that little incident last night…it may seem like a safe environment, but it could easily cause trouble for my dear nephew at the slightly inconvenience. Now that I've returned to his life, I have to protect him at any cost." – Jeanne thinks to herself_

_After a moment of thinking, Jeanne's eyes expand as she had just come up with a way to both protect and be there for Ren._

"_Cereza…I think I may have just found a way keep Ren safe while I'm here." – Jeanne said smirking_

**End of Chapter**

_**Hey, everyone. So I'm finally back. I know I said I'd be back in April, but believe it or not. This chapter took a lot out of me. I kept hitting so many roadblocks and kept losing my train of thought when it came to writing this chapter out. But I'm glad it's finally finished and that y'all can have a new chapter after all this time. This one was suppose to be originally a Side Chapter about baby Ren's past, but I felt like it needed something more so I decided to make it a whole new big chapter all together. **_

_**I already got ideas for future chapters in the coming future as well as a brand new story including Bayonetta and Dante and how they became Ren's parents, but until then I'll be mainly focusing on this story until I can finalize what I want to do for that story. **_

_**As always thank you all for sticking with my story leaving favorites and follows throughout my hiatus, I'm glad to say I'm back. Be sure to leave comments and reviews for this chapter, I'll be back soon with another chapter later on. Thank you all, good bye. ;)**_


	8. 1Shot Chp 1: A Spiritual Letter to Mummy

_Oneshot Chapter 1: A Spiritual Letter to Mummy_

_It was nighttime on a Saturday night. Everyone at LeBlanc was having a good time. The phantom thieves were studying, drinking coffee, reading manga, and doing other things. Cereza was cooking curry and helping Sojiro with customers that were coming in, most of them were men who just wanted to stare at her because she was beautiful. She was also watching her son Ren study. She enjoyed watching him do so because it made her feel reassured to know that her son is taking his studies and school work seriously and she was proud of him for it. Years of being separated from one's own child would make one worry if their child is doing well for themselves, but Ren was pushing through life just fine even without his mother, he overcame all the overwhelming odds that wanted him to fail, one of which even wanted him dead. _

_Cereza steps away from the cooking for a moment takes out the small photo album she keeps with her took like at Ren's baby pictures every now and then. As she opens the book, a picture falls out of it and falls on the floor. Cereza goes to pick it up._

"_That's odd, I never had this picture before." – She says to herself_

_It was a picture of her late mother, Rosa. There was writing on the back. _

"_**My darling Cereza…I can only hope that my beloved daughter and grandson are happy and doing well." – Your beloved mummy**_

_Cereza stares at Ren for a moment as his face is concentrated on his studies as she tightly clutches the photo of her mother into her hands._

"_Mummy…Daddy…for many years after I was sealed under that lake, I didn't know who I was, I didn't know myself, and I didn't know what I truly wanted in this world. Jeanne helped me regain most of what I lost and I was happy for a while, but even then, something felt missing. I regained my memories, my identity, but what I was really missing was…my heart. My life had been a routine of fighting off angels and demons, but somewhere as my life passed on, I've changed. I told myself that I wanted to be a mother, so I got pregnant and had my first child. My son… my dear sweet child… Ren… that boy changed me. He is the reason I have new happiness in my life. The reason why I value humanity. I finally found what I was truly missing all this time, I finally found my heart. And mummy…daddy… my son is my heart! Ren is the source of my life and my happiness…no…he is my life and my happiness. And there is nothing that could ever make me consider otherwise. I love this boy to death…and I will never let anything nor anyone separate us! Never again! So mummy…daddy, please…you don't have to worry about me or my child anymore. We are family, we are together, and we are a bond." – Cereza finishes her soliloquy _

_Cereza wipes a tear from her eye as she returns the photo to the album. Ren looks up and sees his mother just standing there slightly weeping._

"_Hey, mom. Are you okay? What's wrong?" – concerned Ren asked_

_Cereza reaches over the bar counter and pulls her son's head in for a kiss on his forehead. She lets out a bright smile to let him know she's okay._

"_It's nothing you need to worry yourself over, my dear sweet child. Just know that mummy loves you more than anything in the world and she will always hold on to you. Always remember, Ren. When you love something, never lose it. You must keep it safe, close to your heart. Just as I will always protect and love you and keep you close to my heart, my son. Always." – Cereza said softly_

_Ren seemed confused at first because he was just asking his mother a question, but he didn't mind and smiled all the same._

"_I love you too, mom. Just like before when we fought Yaldabaoth, I'll always protect you." – He replies _

_Cereza gives him another kiss on his forehead and goes back to the stove continues her cooking and Ren continues his studying, wiping a tear that appeared before his eye._

**END OF ONESHOT CHAPTER 1**

**Hey, guys. I just wanted to make this little very short one shot chapter for you guys to excuse my absence and I also wanna say that I'm gonna be posting more one shots in the future to either help tie in with the story or just to have fun with the story's characters and their daily lives. Thanks for reading and supporting the story. As always leave a favorite if you like this story and a follow if you wanna be updated for future chapters. Be sure to leave a review for the story because I love reading the feedback. Thank you all so much, I'll see you next chapter, bye. ;)**


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